Bring Me To Life
by geekinthepink614
Summary: Kinzie, a young Tubetuber, finds herself becoming immersed in the world of the Gems after forming a friendship with Amethyst.
1. Marble Onyx

**Author's Notes: Here it is! My first Steven Universe fic! I'm going to try to keep it as close to canon as I can but I'll probably have to take some liberties here and there. This story starts shortly before the events in 'Cry For Help'.**

 **Obviously, I don't own Steven Universe nor did I create the games that Kinzie plays on her Tubetube channel.**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

Steven smiled to himself as he walked toward Beach Citywalk Fries. He had spent the day with the Gems attempting to track down Peridot but none of their leads had panned out. He could tell the others were getting frustrated so he did his best to keep their spirits up, but he couldn't deny that between having Peridot on the loose and constantly worrying about what was going to become of Lapis and Jasper, he was starting to feel a little worn down himself.

' _Nothing some Fry Bits can't take care of_ ,' he thought as he came closer to the shop in question.

Upon reaching the window, however, he was surprised to see a girl with long, straight black hair leaning against the wall of the shop's interior, talking to Peedee. The girl glanced up and, upon noticing Steven at the window, gently nudged Peedee and nodded in Steven's direction.

"Oh, sorry about that, Steven," Peedee apologized as he set about gathering up the Fry Bits.

"Don't about it, Peedee," Steven replied good-naturedly as the bits were handed to him. "I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation with..." He trailed off, glancing at the girl.

"Kinzie," the girl replied, a small smile on her face as she pushed herself off the wall. It was at this point that Steven noticed the red and blue streaks in Kinzie's hair. "I'm Ronaldo and Peedee's cousin." She glanced back at Peedee. "I think it's about time for me to head home, anyway. I promised Grandma I'd call her tonight."

"Okay, well, be careful going home, Kinzie." Peedee replied, hugging his cousin as she made her way out the back door of the shop. "Come by tomorrow, okay? Dad and Ronaldo will be here and I know they'd want to see you, too."

"You got it," Kinzie agreed. She glanced back to Steven and gave him another small smile. "It was nice meeting you, Steven. It's about time Peedee made a friend his own age."

"Hey!" Peedee yelled indignantly as Kinzie ruffled his hair and disappeared out the door.

"Bye, Kinzie! It was nice meeting you too!" Steven yelled as the door was closing. He turned his gaze back to Peedee as the boy set about closing up the shop. "I didn't know you had family in town, Peedee."

Peedee quirked an eyebrow. "'In town'? Kinzie's not visiting, Steven. She lives in Beach City."

Steven gasped. "Really? That's awesome!"

"Yeah, she rents a small house not too far from the boardwalk," Peedee said.

Steven thought for a moment. "But... I can't remember seeing her around town..."

"Sounds about right," Peedee replied. "She tends to keep to herself most of the time. Besides me, Dad, and Ronaldo, I'm not really sure who else she interacts with on a regular basis."

"But hanging out with people is so much fun!" Steven exclaimed. "How could she not enjoy it?"

Peedee sighed. "Once upon a time, she did. Dad and Ronaldo say she was really social and outgoing before her mom passed away. After that, she just kind of...shut herself away and hasn't been herself since. I was little when it happened so I can't really remember a time she wasn't the way she is now, but I do know that she doesn't laugh nearly as much anymore."

"That's awful. She seems so nice," Steven remarked, a frown marring his features for a moment before he brightened up again. "Where does she work? I bet I can make her laugh tomorrow!"

"She works from home, for the most part," Peedee replied. "She makes most of her money recording Let's Plays and posting them on Tubetube. She also DJs part-time, which is why she dyes her hair with those streaks."

"Wait," Steven said, holding his hand up. "She makes money by playing video games?" His face lit up in a big smile when Peedee nodded. "Best job ever!"

Peedee chuckled. "She really seems to enjoy it. We're happy she's found a way to make a living doing something she loves. With all she's been through, I think she deserves a break."

"'All she's been through'?" Steven asked.

Peedee shook his head. "Not my story to tell, man. That's something Kinzie will have to fill you in on. If you want, you can swing by here tomorrow. She said she'd be back, so you can talk to her then. And if you feel like checking her out on Tubetube, her username is Marble Onyx."

Steven nodded. "I'll be sure to check it out tonight! And I'll be here tomorrow! You can count on it! See ya later, Peedee!" he yelled as began jogging home.

* * *

"Yo, Ste-man!" Amethyst greeted as she flopped down on Steven's bed.

"Hey, Amethyst!" Steven replied, glancing up at her briefly before returning his attention to his phone. He'd been watching Kinzie's Let's Play videos from the time he'd arrived home and he'd become addicted quickly. Kinzie's online persona was much different from the more reserved one he'd seen at the fry shop; she seemed much more jovial and immersed in the games she played, snarking and joking about whatever was happening. Steven had watched her playthrough of _Final Fantasy VII_ and had just begun watching her ongoing playthrough of _Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines_.

"What are you watching?" Amethyst asked, craning her neck to get a better look at the screen.

"I'm watching Marble Onyx!" Steven exclaimed. He continued when he noticed Amethyst's confused look. "She's a Tubetuber who makes videos of herself playing different video games and then puts them on the internet for everyone to watch."

"Okaaaaay...," Amethyst replied. "Earth gets stranger and stranger every day." She scooted a little closer to Steven, glancing at Kinzie's face in the top left corner of the screen. "Oh wow, I really like her hair. So...is she some type of Gem? I've never heard of a human being named Marble Onyx."

Steven shook his head. "No, 'Marble Onyx' is just a name she goes by online. Her real name is Kinzie and she actually lives here in Beach City! I met her when I was getting my Fry Bits."

"You went and got Fry Bits without me?!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Sorry, but you guys were all in your rooms and I was really hungry," Steven replied. "I'm going back there tomorrow, if you want to come. Peedee said Kenzie was going to be there again and I wanted to talk to her some more."

Amethyst nodded before turning her attention back to the screen. Kinzie was currently trying to decide what type of vampire she wanted to be for the playthrough.

"I'm really torn here, guys," Kinzie commented. "The Malkavians are insane which, y'know, really speaks to my heart but the Toreadors only real ability is that they're all really attractive. And trust me, I'd love to be that shallow and one-dimensional." Kinzie flicked back and forth between the two before eventually settling on the Toreador. "I'm going with the Toreador. Now I can finally live out my lifelong dream of being a pretentious douche-bag. As for the sex... I think I'm going to be a guy this time around. You don't have to be a girl to look gorgeous in makeup. If you viewers take anything away from this video, I hope you take that."

"Oh man, this girl's a riot," Amethyst said, laughing along with Steven. "I'm definitely coming with you tomorrow. I've gotta meet this chick."

* * *

The next evening saw Steven and Amethyst making their way to the boardwalk for Fry Bits.

"Hey, Steven! Come to get your bits?" Fryman asked when noticed the two making their way up to the window.

Steven nodded. "Yeah. And I'm here to see Kinzie, too! Amethyst and I watched a ton of her videos last night! We haven't missed her, have we?"

Fryman chuckled, handing Steven the bits. "No, no. She hasn't been by just yet but hang around for a bit and you'll be able to catch her soon. She normally tries to avoid coming in during the busiest parts of the day."

"Actually," Peedee began, leaning out the window and looking off into the distance. "I think I see her now. And it looks like she brought Dante with her this time."

Steven turned and, sure enough, he saw Kinzie making her way to the shop. Steven smiled when he noticed that she had a long-haired German Shepard walking on a leash beside her.

"Marble Onyx!" Steven shouted, running over to Kinzie with Amethyst in tow.

Kinzie blinked. "Umm...yes?"

"Peedee told me all about your channel so I started watching and then I couldn't stop and now I'm a huge fan and I think you're awesome and your videos are awesome too!" Steven said quickly, holding his Fry Bits out of the way of the dog's mouth.

"R-Really?" Kinzie asked after taking a moment to decipher and then process what Steven had said.

"Uh-huh!" Steven replied, nodding profusely. "And I'm not the only one! Amethyst watched with me and she really liked them too!" He gestured toward the purple Gem as he spoke.

"What's up? I'm Amethyst but you probably already figured that out," Amethyst greeted. "Steven's right, you know. Those videos were awesome! Also, I'm really digging your hair."

"Umm... Thank you." Kinzie glanced at the ground, her cheeks turning a light pink, when she noticed Dante trying to take Steven's Fry Bits. "Dante!" she commanded, the dog immediately snapping to attention. "Lay down!" The shepherd whined but did as he was told. "I'm sorry about that, Steven. He can't really help himself around food."

"Aww, it's no problem!" Steven said, petting the dog.

"I don't know why you seem so surprised, Kinzie," Fryman said, stepping out of the shop and hugging his niece. "You've been gaining a steady stream of subscribers, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah," Kinzie agreed, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly as she stepped away from Fryman. "But I don't normally have people come up to me and tell me they like what I do. Oh, but that reminds me!" She moved a little closer to the window of the shop. "Hey, Ronaldo! Got any good horror games for me?"

The shop's front door was flung open almost immediately. "As a matter of fact, I do, my dear cousin. Have you ever heard of a PC game called _Scratches_?" He paused, only to continue a moment later when Kinzie shook her head. "It's a puzzle-based game and the pacing is a bit slow, but it does a really good job of building the atmosphere and suspense and even after you beat it, you still won't be entirely sure what happened. I think it has an epilogue expansion too. I haven't played that one yet but it's supposed to shed some light on what happened in the game."

"Can I get them together?" Kinzie asked.

Ronaldo nodded. "Yeah. I think they're being sold as a bundle together on Smog."

Kinzie smiled. "Alright. Then I'll make it happen. That'll be the next horror game I play."

"Does Ronaldo give you all your horror game ideas?" Steven asked.

"Not all of them," Kinzie replied. "But his word is law when it comes to horror games, as far as I'm concerned. If he recommends it, I'll play it."

"And in return, she plugs my blog whenever she plays a game I recommend," Ronaldo threw in, pulling Kinzie into a one-armed hug.

Steven couldn't help but smile as he watched the two of them. Between her genuine respect for Ronaldo and her actions with Peedee the evening before, Kinzie seemed more like a sibling to the two of them than a cousin.

"I've got a question now," Amethyst piped up, breaking her staring contest with Dante. "Why do you go by Marble Onyx? Is there a reason or did you just pick two words that sounded cool together?"

"A little of both, actually," Kinzie said. "The 'Marble' bit comes from the Marble Hornets video series on Tubetube. Slenderman is one of my favorite urban legends and I plan on playing the games based on him once more of them are released. As for the 'Onyx' part...," Kinzie held up her arm to reveal a bracelet with a large black onyx gemstone dangling from the band. "My mom gave this bracelet to me the last birthday I had before she died. Onyx has always been one of my favorite gems and this is my way of both reflecting that and honoring her memory."

Amethyst was silent after that. She was all too familiar with losing a mother. She'd never say anything for risk of upsetting Steven but a part of her was still reeling over Rose's death. She wasn't entirely sure why but she felt a sort of kindred spirit in Kinzie, someone who shared her pain and could relate with her.

After talking with Kinzie and the Fryman family for a while, Amethyst and Steven made their way back to the temple.

"That was fun!" Steven chirped as he bounced along the beach. "It was really cool to see Kinzie again."

"Yeah, it was," Amethyst agreed. ' _I'm not really why but I'm really hoping I see some more of that girl._ '

* * *

 **Ending Notes: I hope this makes for a decent enough introduction. I feel like I should warn you all that Peridot's not going to appear until around chapter four or five. I wanted to establish Kinzie as a character and build up her friendship with Amethyst before introducing Peridot to the story.**

 **Also, in case anyone was confused, Smog is my epic fail SU equivalent of Steam.**

 **Please let me know what you think! Feedback is always welcome and appreciated!**

 **Geekinthepink, out!**


	2. Going Viral

**Author's Notes: Oh my goodness, you guys! I was honestly not expecting the amount of hits this story got, especially for the first chapter! Hopefully I did a decent enough job that you'll keep coming back to it! Thank you all!**

* * *

Amethyst sighed as she made her way out of the temple and toward the boardwalk in search of something to do. Ever since Pearl had tricked Garnet into fusing with her to destroy the communication hub, the two hadn't been speaking. There had been nothing but horrible tension in the temple for the past few days and she and Steven were starting to feel crushed under the weight of it all. Steven had been lucky enough to get to go on a roadtrip with Greg and Garnet but it hadn't really done much to alleviate the tension; Garnet was still refusing to actively speak to Pearl outside of necessity. It was driving Amethyst insane and she needed to find a reason to stay out of the temple for a while.

She had almost reached the boardwalk when she noticed a familiar head of red and blue streaks. Sure enough, Kinzie was sitting on the beach playing fetch with Dante. Once again, Amethyst felt drawn to the girl for some inexplicable reason and began walking over to her almost involuntarily.

"Hey," Amethyst greeted, causing Kinzie to jump.

"Oh, hi," Kinzie replied. "It's... Amethyst, right?"

Amethyst nodded. "Yeah. Met you the other day." She paused, glancing around awkwardly for a moment before looking back at Kinzie. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"Not at all," Kinzie said, gesturing to the spot beside her. The two sat together in silence for a moment, taking turns throwing the stick for Dante, before Kinzie looked back over at Amethyst. "Is everything okay? You look a little down."

Amethyst shrugged. "Just problems at home, I guess. It's kind of a long story. But I had to get out of that temple or I was going to hurt someone."

"I have time," Kinzie replied simply. "But if you don't want to talk about it, I get it." After a few more minutes of playing fetch, Kinzie turned back to the purple Gem. "Do you want to come back to my place for a bit? I was planning on making a video later. Maybe you'd like to be in it with me? It'd give you an excuse to steer clear of the temple."

"I don't know anything about video games," Amethyst said.

"So?" Kinzie said. "I'll do all the playing. You just have to chill with me and make jokes about whatever happens during the game."

"You know what?" Amethyst replied after thinking it over for a moment. "That actually does sound like fun. I was a little curious about how the whole thing worked anyway."

"And I've never recorded with another person before," Kinzie added as she stood up. "This could be a learning experience for both of us."

The walk to Kinzie's house was a pleasant one. Being a resident of Beach City meant that Kinzie had at least a basic knowledge of the Crystal Gems and Amethyst filled in whatever gaps were left as well as explaining more about who and what the Gems were. She'd even gone so far as to explain fusion to Kinzie and the emotional significance it held for all of them, Garnet especially.

"So does this fusion thing have anything to do with why you're so down?" Kinzie asked.

"Yeah, it does," Amethyst answered. She took a breath before beginning the story. "So, remember how I told you that the giant green hand ship was full of Gems that wanted to destroy us and how two of them fused together and dragged themselves into the ocean somewhere?" She waited for Kinzie to nod before continuing. "Well, the last Gem on the ship, Peridot, managed to get to her escape pod before the ship crashed. We found her ship but no Peridot. So we've been looking for her ever since."

"'Peridot'... 'Peridot...' Why does that name ring a bell?" Kinzie muttered before snapping her fingers in realization. "Oh, wait! Wasn't she that green chick that was on TV a few days ago?" Kinzie's expression darkened a bit. "Girl interrupted my show. I was in the middle of a really good episode of _Kitchen Nightmares_ when she showed up. Ugh, I am so peeved right now."

Amethyst couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, that was her. But anyway, we went to the communication hub where she had broadcast the signal and Garnet and Pearl fused to destroy it. But the hub kept getting repaired somehow, so Steven and I went to investigate and catch Peridot if we could. That's when we found out that Pearl had been repairing the hub the whole time."

"Why would she do that, though?" Kinzie asked.

"So Garnet would keep fusing with her," Amethyst said with a sigh. "Well when Garnet found out, she was furious. I don't think I'd ever seen her that angry before. She and I ended up fusing to destroy the hub for good but now she and Pearl aren't speaking."

"I don't mean to be ignorant about this, but why is fusing with Garnet such a big deal?" Kinzie asked.

"Garnet's the strongest out of all of us," Amethyst answered. "Fusing with her gives me and Pearl a sort of...power high, I guess. It makes us feel untouchable. It's such an awesome feeling that it makes us want to fuse with her whenever we can. That's why, while I understand why Garnet's so angry about all this, I can kind of understand where Pearl's coming from too. Fusing with Garnet gives us a feeling of strength and power that neither of us have on our own."

Kinzie was silent for a moment, processing what Amethyst had told her. Finally, she looked over to her. "I know haven't had a chance to meet Pearl yet, but I think you're pretty awesome all by yourself."

"You do?" Amethyst asked.

Kinzie nodded. "I know your abilities may not seem like much to you but, to a regular human like me, you're amazing. Not just in terms of your powers, either; I mean your personality too. Considering all you've gone through, and I'm sure there's more than what you've told me, you've come out of remarkably well. And you were so young when it all happened too. That's all the proof you need of how strong you are."

Amethyst could count the number of times she'd been stunned into silence on one hand. This was one of those times. She couldn't do anything more than stare at Kinzie as they finally approached her house, Kinzie unlocking the front door and letting them inside.

"I wish I could offer you more encouragement with the whole thing between Garnet and Pearl," Kinzie continued as she let Dante off his leash. "But this is something that they're going to have to work out. Garnet needs to get to a point where she feels like she can trust Pearl again and Pearl needs to understand that these things take time."

Amethyst nodded. "Yeah, I know. To be honest, though, I feel a lot better now that I've vented about it. Thanks for listening, Kinzie. I appreciate it." She took a breath before smiling up at Kinzie again. "So. What about this video we're supposed to make?"

* * *

A few moments later, Kinzie had finally set up all of the equipment she would need to record. She had opted out of using her reaction camera for the video; there was no way to angle the camera in a way that it would adequately capture both of them.

"Okay so... What am I supposed to do?" Amethyst asked as Kinzie got ready to turn on the mic and start the video, the main menu of _Vampires: The Masquerade_ looming in front of them on the computer screen.

"Just act natural," Kinzie replied. "I know it's a little weird with all these machines here but just act like you're having a normal conversation with me and the viewers." When Amethyst still didn't look convinced, Kinzie continued with, "Just follow my lead. You'll do fine." With that, she turned on the mic and started in with the introduction. "What's up, guys? This is Marble Onyx."

"And this is... Marble Amethyst, I guess," Amethyst added. "Dang girl, you were right. Adding 'Marble' makes any name sound cooler."

"Told you so," Kinzie replied before addressing the audience again and loading up the game. "Amethyst is going to be joining us today on a wonderful trip back to Pretentious Douche-Bag Simulator."

"I still don't see why you think your character is such a-," Amethyst cut herself off when she saw Kinzie's avatar walk into the frame. "Ugh, nevermind, I totally see it now. What's going on with that walk, man? Why you gotta move your shoulders that much? Walking like that can't be comfortable."

The rest of the day carried on in a similar fashion. Kinzie had never recorded a Let's Play with another person before but she had to admit that she had truly enjoyed herself with Amethyst. Amethyst, for her part, found herself falling into the groove of a Tubetuber relatively quickly and found that playing games with Kinzie provided a sense of normalcy that she had never really known. There were no Gems or Gem powers, there was no Peridot, and, most importantly, there was no constant reminder of what she really was.

* * *

Amethyst watched Kinzie work on editing the video from her place on the couch, munching on the soda can Kinzie had been drinking from earlier.

"So how does it work exactly?" Amethyst asked. "This whole 'making videos for the internet and earning money' thing?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated," Kinzie replied, not looking up from her computer screen. "The short version is that companies pay Tubetube to advertise on their site. If a Tubetuber becomes popular and attracts a significant number of followers, that means that a number of people are watching their videos and seeing those ads, which makes Tubetube more money. Once they see that a Tubetuber consistently gets a large number of hits on their videos, Tubetube will offer the user a contract that states that, in exchange for a cut of the profits from the advertising companies, the Tubetuber will produce a certain number of videos each week. The more popular a Tubetuber gets, the more videos they're asked to produce and, in turn, the more money they earn."

"It sounds like views are the most important thing here, though," Amethyst pointed out. "Why does it matter how many subscribers you have?"

"Well, my subscribers receive notifications whenever I upload a new video which is usually a good indication that they watch them regularly," Kinzie answered. "The logic is that, if a Tubetuber has a large number of subscribers, they most likely have significant traffic to their channel and videos, which means more views, which means more money for Tubetube."

"I guess that makes sense," Amethyst said. "I just never realized how much work went into making videos."

"It's a full time job, just like any other," Kinzie replied.

"Do you ever get worn out from playing video games? I'd think doing it for a living might make it seem like less fun." Amethyst pointed out.

"It does get tiring, I'll admit," Kinzie said. "But never because of the games. You've probably already realized that I'm not really one for socializing. I've always been really introverted, so it can be tiring for me to act all party-hardy in front of the camera." She paused for a moment. "You know, now that I think about it, today was the first time it's ever felt natural for me to act like that."

Amethyst smiled. "Then maybe we should do this more often. I had a lot of fun today too. And you're a pretty chill person, Kinzie. Even if we're not playing games together, I definitely think we should hang out more." She sat up abruptly as she caught a glimpse of the night sky from Kinzie's window. "Oh dang, what time is it?"

"Almost ten," Kinzie answered after checking the clock on her computer.

"Aww man," Amethyst groaned. "I totally lost track of the time! I'm gonna have Pearl drilling me as soon as I get back about where I was." She sighed, pushing herself off the couch. "I've gotta get going, Kinzie. Do you think we could do this again sometime, though?"

Kinzie nodded, smiling back at Amethyst. "Oh yeah! This was the most fun I've had in a while. I think you're absolutely right that we should hang out more." She stood and walked over to her friend. "You're welcome here anytime, Amethyst. Actually..." She walked over to grab a small piece of paper off of her computer desk, scribbled something on it, then walked back to Amethyst and handed the paper to her. "Give this to Steven when you get back home. If you get him to show you how to use his phone, you can use that number to call or text me whenever you want."

"Will do," Amethyst replied. "Thanks, Kinzie."

* * *

Kinzie spent the rest of her evening editing and then uploading the video she and Amethyst had made, not heading to bed until the wee hours of the morning as per usual. So she wasn't especially happy when Ronaldo called her the next afternoon, waking her up.

"Ronaldo, I love you but this had better be important," Kinzie ground out.

"I'm assuming you haven't been on Tubetube yet today," Ronaldo replied, unfazed by Kinzie's groggy irritation.

"Of course not," Kinzie spat out, rolling her eyes. "It's noon-thirty. You know perfectly well that I'm not awake right now unless I have to be."

"Well you might want to check it out when you can," Ronaldo continued. "The video that you posted last night was a pretty big hit, apparently. The 'Marble Onyx' tag is trending as we speak."

"What are you saying, Ronaldo?" Kinzie asked, all traces of drowziness and irritation gone.

"I'm saying you just went viral."

* * *

 **Ending Notes: Once again, any feedback you guys have for me is more than welcome!**

 **Thanks for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	3. Goat Simulator and Soul Baring

**Author's Notes: Wow! Once again, I am absolutely floored by the amount of hits and feedback this story has gotten! I really can't tell you guys how much it means to me!**

 **I did receive a question in one of my reviews asking me where Kinzie was during the Homeworld invasion. I couldn't think of a way to address it in this chapter without it derailing what the character's were talking about so I figured I'd just say it here: Kinzie had been evacuated with the rest of Beach City. I apologize if that confused anyone else as well.**

 **I do want to warn everyone that this chapter does get a bit heavy so be prepared for a little mood whiplash.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

* * *

Sure enough, when Kinzie checked the trending tags on Tubetube after bolting out of bed, 'Marble Onyx' was at the top of the list. The ever-growing comments section was full of people complimenting her banter with Amethyst and several wanted to know whether or not she would be making another appearance.

Kinzie couldn't tear her eyes away from the computer screen, a huge smile plastered onto her face, until she heard her phone ring. She quirked an eyebrow, not recognizing the number, before answering.

"Kinzie!" the voice on the other end exclaimed before Kinzie had a chance to say anything. "Are you seeing this right now?!"

Kinzie's smile widened upon recognizing the voice as Steven's. "Yeah, I just saw it! I can't believe this!"

"Congratulations! I'm so happy for you guys!" Steven cheered happily. "So... Is there any chance that you and Amethyst will make more videos together?"

Kinzie laughed. "Well, I guess that's up to her. Even if the video we made hadn't gone viral, I was hoping she'd record with me more often but I know you guys are busy protecting Earth."

"I'm sure she'll want to," Steven replied. "You guys sounded like you were having so much fun. I haven't heard Amethyst sound that happy in a really long time."

"Does she know anything about the video?" Kinzie asked.

"I doubt it," Steven answered. "I haven't seen her yet today but... Oh wait! Here she comes now!" He leaned away from the phone to call out to her. "Hey Amethyst! You and Kinzie went viral last night!"

"What does that mean?" Amethyst asked, walking over to the boy. "Sounds painful."

"It means you guys are famous!" Steven chirped. "Lots of people have already seen the video and a bunch of them have been asking if you're going to appear in more of them! Please say you will! You guys work great together!"

"Wait. So people actually liked me being in the video? I thought I'd just ruin it; I don't have Kinzie's experience with games or with making videos." She glanced at the phone in Steven's hand, barely making out a voice coming from the other end. "Who are you talking to?"

Steven gasped, having forgotten he still had Kinzie on the phone. He pressed a button to put the phone on speaker. "Sorry about that, Kinzie. We couldn't hear you. I just put you on speaker, though, so would you mind saying that again?"

"No problem, Steven." Kinzie agreed. "All I was saying was that you didn't ruin the video at all, Amethyst. In fact, if I hadn't known it was your first time recording a Let's Play, I would have assumed you'd been doing it for years. Looks like you're a natural, girlie!"

Amethyst laughed, sheepishly rubbing her arm as her cheeks turned a deep purple. "Well, uh, that's really thanks to you showing me how to act. I don't know that I could pull it off on my own. And y'know...," Amethyst paused, glancing between the phone and the floor, before continuing. "If you wanted to make more videos with me, I'd be cool with it. I mean, I know it's your channel but-"

"I'd love to have you in more videos, Amethyst," Kinzie said. "Actually, I was kind of hoping you'd agree to be in...pretty much...all of them. If you wanted to, I mean. I know you can get pretty busy with your Gem duties but I'm sure we can find a way to work around it. Plus it's, y'know, a lot of fun just hanging out with you."

"I'd love to," Amethyst agreed, her cheeks flushing even darker. "Maybe later on today?"

"Sounds good to me. I have to walk Dante here in the next little bit anyway. Wanna meet me at the same spot as yesterday?" Kinzie asked.

"I'll be there. See you then," Amethyst confirmed.

"Bye, Kinzie!" Steven said before hanging up the phone and looking over at Amethyst with a big smile on his face, his eyes taking on the star shape they usually did when he was happy about something.

"What?" Amethyst asked.

"You guys are Marble Gems," Steven whispered excitedly. "It's becoming a thing."

"Marble Gems, Steven?" Pearl asked as she entered the room. "What are you talking about?" After Steven explained the situation to her, Amethyst chiming in whenever she needed to fill in the blanks, Pearl glanced back at Amethyst. "So you're going to see her again today?"

"That's the plan, Piroghi," Amethyst replied.

"Don't you think you should stay near the temple?" Pearl asked. "What if we get a lock on Peridot's location?"

Amethyst shrugged. "Steven has Kinzie's number. He can just call her if you guys need me. She's got a car so she can just drive me back here."

"I really think you should stay here for the time being, Amethyst," Pearl said.

"No." The Gems glanced up to see Garnet coming through the door. "It'll be good for Kinzie and Amethyst if they're together today."

"But...," Pearl protested. "But what about-"

"If Peridot does make an appearance, the three of us can handle it," Garnet stated firmly before turning back to Amethyst. "Go. She's waiting for you."

* * *

"So what are we playing today?" Amethyst asked as the pair walked through Kinzie's front door.

"Well actually, how would you feel about playing the game this time, Amethyst?" Kinzie asked.

"Uh... I don't know...," Amethyst said.

"I remembered how you said that you didn't really know that much about video games, so I thought this might be a good way to show you how much fun they are," Kinzie explained. "I've even found the perfect game for you." She led Amethyst over to her computer where the main menu of a new game was up on the monitor.

" _Goat Simulator_?" Amethyst asked.

Kinzie nodded. "Yeah, I've been meaning to play it for a while but I never really got around to it. There isn't any real plot to the game; you just have to be a goat and cause as much mayhem as you possibly can. The more destructive you are, the more points you get. Seemed like a good way to get you started in video game culture."

Amethyst's eyes had been growing wider as Kinzie explained the game. "You had me at 'goat'. Let's get this party started!" She immediately sat down in one of Kinzie's computer chairs, turning on the mic as Kinzie sat down next to her.

"What's up, everyone? This is Marble Onyx and guess what. I've got a special treat for you guys," Kinzie began, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

"Marble Amethyst is back, baby!" Amethyst exclaimed. "And that's not all! We had so much fun last time that I plan on being in every single one of Onyx's videos! So get ready, people!" She took a breath and turned her attention to the monitor. "Okay, so today I'm going to be playing _Goat Simulator._ I'm not really sure what to expect, but Onyx did explain a little bit about the game and, hey, I've always been a big fan of goats and how they eat everything so let's get to it."

A few hours passed as Amethyst played. She and Kinzie had decided to record enough material for a few videos in the event that Amethyst wasn't able to join Kinzie in recording or if Kinzie was unable to make a new video one day. Amethyst had become addicted to the game very quickly and there were frequent shouts of "This is the best game ever!" from her, especially when she learned that she could turn on the slow-motion feature.

* * *

That evening saw Kinzie laying on her couch and Amethyst looking around the house. She didn't really look around all that much when she was there the previous day but she was learning all sorts of tidbits about Kinzie's life from the stuff she had sitting out. She smiled when she noticed a picture of Kinzie with Ronaldo and Peedee when they were younger.

"You know, I never would have guessed that you were related to the French Fry Guys," Amethyst pointed out. "You guys look nothing alike. Not that it's a bad thing; I don't think french fry hair would suit you that well."

"I get that a lot, actually," Kinzie replied, amused. "I actually inherited most of my looks from my mom."

Amethyst looked through the pictures until she found one of what she initially thought was Kinzie hugging a younger version of herself. Confused, she picked up the picture to get a closer look and saw that the older woman's features differed from Kinzie's just slightly.

"Is this your mom?" Amethyst asked, holding up the picture.

"Yeah, that's her," Kinzie confirmed.

"Wow. You look just like her now," Amethyst observed. After looking at the pictures for a few more moments, she discovered something. "Hey, how come you don't have any pictures of your dad?"

Kinzie froze.

"I mean, he must have been the one that took care of you after your mom passed, right?" Amethyst continued.

"Umm... Well no, Amethyst. He didn't." Kinzie replied hesitantly. "My grandmother actually took care of me after that."

Amethyst looked back up at Kinzie. There was a sea of emotions swirling through Kinzie's dark eyes. Sadness, grief, and anger were the most prevalent but Amethyst caught sight of one that she was all too familiar with: self-loathing.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked, sitting next to where Kinzie was laying on the couch.

Kinzie stared at Amethyst for a long moment. "I don't want to bore you."

"Well, something's obviously bothering you," Amethyst said. "And that's not boring to me."

"It's not really something I've talked to many people about," Kinzie added. "I haven't even told my cousins or uncle."

"Maybe that's why now's the perfect time to tell someone," Amethyst pointed out. "It's not going to do you any good to keep it all in. Trust me."

Kinzie sighed before starting her story. She hoping she wouldn't have to tell Amethyst about this; she was hoping she wouldn't have to tell _anyone_ about this. But Amethyst was offering to listen and, deep down, there was a small part of Kinzie that wanted her to know. Much like Amethyst had, Kinzie had sensed a kindred spirit in Amethyst the day they met but she didn't understand why. Maybe it was time to find out.

"My parents divorced when I was seven years old," Kinzie began.

"What's 'divorced'?" Amethyst asked.

"It's a process that married people go through when they decide they don't want to be married anymore," Kinzie explained, going back to her story when Amethyst nodded. "I never knew why they divorced; even when I got older, mom just kind of brushed the question off whenever I tried to ask her about it. He and mom started yelling at each other a lot and then one day, he just left and never came back. I've seen my father a grand total of three times since the divorce. That happened when I was seven; I'm twenty-three now. That's why I don't have any pictures of him."

"I don't understand, though," Amethyst said. "Why wouldn't he want to spend time with you? Isn't that, like, a parent's job? I mean, Steven's dad is always up for hanging out with him."

"Not all parents are created equal, Amethyst," Kinzie pointed out. "I didn't find out until later, but my father did absolutely nothing to gain any sort of custody over me. He had no interest in visiting with me or anything. I was happy enough, though. It was hard not having him around at first but mom and I had a really happy life. She'd even drive me to Beach City during the summer so I could play with Ronaldo and Peedee."

Amethyst smiled. "So you guys are pretty tight, huh?"

Kinzie nodded, a small smile gracing her own face. "Always have been. The two of them are like my brothers and uncle Fryman's been the closest thing to a dad I've ever had."

"I'm sorry to ask this," Amethyst began as she glanced back at the picture of Kinzie with her mother. "But how old were you when you're mom passed away?"

The smile dropped from Kinzie's face. "I was fourteen. Mom had been really sick for a while and we all kind of knew that it was coming. But that didn't make it sting any less when she died." Her black eyes clouded over with anger again. "My father didn't even bother to show up to her funeral. My grandmother took me in after that." Amethyst blinked as Kinzie's voice began to tremble. "And yes, Amethyst, ordinarily the remaining parent would take custody of the child should one of them die. But I found out that my father had signed away his parental rights."

"Umm... What does that mean?" Amethyst asked carefully, not wanting to upset Kinzie any further.

"It means he didn't want me," Kinzie explained, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. "When I confronted him about it, and keep in mind that I was fourteen at the time, he told me, 'You were never supposed to happen, Kinzie'. A mistake; that's all I am to him."

Amethyst's eyes widened before clouding over with anger as well. She knew from personal experience that it was bad enough to _feel_ like a mistake, but to have someone _tell_ you that you're a mistake... The whole situation struck a serious chord in her and, even though the Crystal Gems had sworn an oath to never use their powers on humans, she was beginning to feel an ever-growing desire to break that oath.

"After that, I fell into what was the worst depression of my life," Kinzie continued, tears streaming freely down her face now. "Mom was gone and my own father didn't even want me. And I thought that there was nobody in the world who needed me. I felt unnecessary and it was the worst feeling in the world. That's why, after I finished college, Grandma, uncle Fryman, and I all decided that it would probably be best if I moved here. It would get me out of the city mom died in and I could be near my uncle and cousins." She took a breath, looking up at Amethyst, and smiled. "And now I know for sure that it was the right choice. If I hadn't moved here, I never would have met you."

Amethyst couldn't help but smile back, her cheeks turning purple again, as she began playing with some of Kinzie's hair. "I'm glad you ended up moving here, too. It's awesome to have someone around that I can just kick back with and talk to. And, as far as your dad is concerned, it's his loss if he doesn't want you. If he honestly thinks you're a mistake, you're better off without him." Her face suddenly turned serious. "And I don't ever want to hear you say that feel unnecessary again because I need you. Being with you makes me feel normal. When I'm with you, I don't..."

Kinzie sat up. "You don't what, Amethyst?"

"I don't feel like an abomination," Amethyst finally threw out.

Kinzie tilted her head. "Why would you ever feel that way, Amethyst?"

Amethyst sighed. "You were open and honest with me. The least I can do is return the favor. Do you remember yesterday when I told you about the Kindergarten and how it was used to grow Gems by sucking up all the nutrients from the Earth?"

Kinzie nodded.

"I was one of the Gems made there," Amethyst said, turning away from Kinzie. "I was left alone in that place until Rose Quartz found me and took me in. I never learned the truth about that place until much, much later. I've felt so guilty about it ever since. It doesn't help that Pearl and Garnet kept trying to avoid it and hide it from Steven up until recently. Pearl told me that they didn't blame me for what happened there, but I guess I never stopped blaming myself."

Kinzie was silent for a moment, waiting to see if Amethyst would look at her again. When she didn't, Kinzie slowly wrapped her arms around the purple Gem and pulled her into a tight hug. "Pearl was right, you know. You're not to blame for what happened there. You didn't ask to be made the way you were." She began petting Amethyst's hair as the shorter girl nuzzled against her shoulder. "Sure, some nutrients from the Earth might have been taken to make you but you've sworn to protect the Earth now, right? You and the rest of the Gems have been fighting for Earth for thousands of years. I'd say you've paid the Earth back with interest, Amethyst. Have you ever thought of it like that?"

Kinzie frowned a bit when Amethyst didn't immediately respond, her face contorting in confusion when she felt her shoulder growing wet. Soon after, she felt Amethyst's shoulders shaking and her arms wrapping around Kinzie as well. Kinzie continued petting Amethyst's hair in silence until the purple Gem looked up at her, tears streaming down her face.

"Thanks, Kinzie," Amethyst said, wiping her eyes.

"It's what friends are for," Kinzie replied. A short laugh left her lips. "We're a mess, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Amethyst agreed. "But that's what makes us so awesome." She glanced around the room for a moment before training her eyes back on Kinzie. "Hey, Kinzie?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't mean for this to sound weird but... Would it be okay if I stayed here tonight?" Amethyst asked. "It's just... After all this, I don't really want to go back to the temple."

Kinzie smiled. "It's fine with me. We could camp out down here. It'll be fun!" She handed Amethyst her phone. "You should probably call Steven and let the Gems know, though."

* * *

After clearing everything with Garnet, Kinzie and Amethyst spent the rest of the night eating pizza and watching movies. They had gathered up a bunch of blankets and pillows and spread them out on Kinzie's living room floor when they decided they were ready to sleep. Kinzie fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Amethyst could understand the feeling; it had been a long and emotionally draining day for both of them. Still, she felt much better having told someone and getting those issues off her chest and Kinzie's response actually made her feel much better.

She glanced over at Kinzie as she laid down next to her, smiling as she brushed away some hair that had fallen in front of Kinzie's eyes.

"Thanks for everything, Kinzie," Amethyst whispered, gently linking her fingers with Kinzie's before falling asleep herself. "You're great."

* * *

 **Ending Notes: Sorry to throw all that emotion at you guys at once but I really wanted to get Kinzie's backstory out there. This whole mess with her father isn't over for her though; he's going to make an appearance later on. The next few chapters are going to be much more lighthearted, though.**

 **A little fun fact about the way I write (even though you didn't ask for one): I make playlists for my OCs that are filled with songs that either describe their relationships with other characters or describe who they are as a character. I've had Kinzie's on blast the entire time I was writing this. It's 1:30 in the morning where I am and I live in an apartment. Pretty sure my neighbors hate me.**

 **One last thing before I go: Guess who finally shows up in the next chapter...**

 **Once again, feedback is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you all so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	4. Meeting Peridot

**Author's Notes: Don't really have much to say at the start here, so let's get to it!**

 **Thank you all so much for reading and supporting this story! You guys rock!**

* * *

Amethyst and Kinzie developed a pattern over the following weeks; whenever the two had the time to spare and the Gems weren't out looking for Peridot, she spent entire days, sometimes a couple days, over at Kinzie's house. They would record videos in bulk, sometimes playing entire games in one sitting, and Kinzie would split them into segments, edit, and post them to her channel. Marble Onyx was gaining more support and more subscribers with each passing day and Kinzie couldn't feel more overwhelmed or more proud. The recognition she got from her channel also led to an increase in requests for her to DJ at different venues, most of them in or around Beach City, but some from out of state as well.

Kinzie and Amethyst had become extremely close as well over those same weeks. Each now considered the other one of their closest friends and they spent an immense amount of time together, even when they weren't working on the channel. Their closeness wasn't lost on their viewers, either, if the comments sections on the videos were any indication. As Kinzie had told Amethyst, "You know you're tight with someone if people who barely know you start to ship you."

Amethyst was still bothered over her origins but she had to admit, at least to herself, that spilling everything to Kinzie made her feel much better. She wasn't holding it all in anymore and Kinzie's advice and perspective had been pretty solid. It would take a lot of time but she was hoping that eventually she would stop blaming herself for the things that had happened in the Kindergarten.

As introverted as she was, Kinzie didn't have a large number of friends to begin with. After her mother passed away she'd closed herself off almost completely, refusing to get close to anyone outside of her family. However, after baring her soul to Amethyst, she found herself letting go of much of the baggage she'd been holding onto. She still mourned for her mother and her anger toward her father had not ebbed in the slightest, but she was slowly but surely starting to accept more people into her life. She'd even taken Amethyst up on an offer to come and visit the temple one day, after Garnet and Pearl were speaking to each other again. It was nice to see Steven again; the kid was so full of genuine optimism that it was difficult not to be happy when he was around. Meeting the remaining Crystal Gems had been interesting as well; the first thing Garnet said to Kinzie when they'd met was a compliment on her red and blue hair streaks.

Kinzie smiled when she heard her phone ring, knowing it was either Steven or Amethyst. They'd made plans to come over to Kinzie's house to hang out.

"Hey, hey," Kinzie greeted as she answered the phone.

"Sup, girlie?" Amethyst replied. "Listen, I know you hate having stuff sprung on you at the last minute but would you mind coming over here for the day instead of us heading over there? We've got a...situation on our hands right now."

"Well, if something's come up, we can just hang out another time," Kinzie offered. "It's not like we had plans to record today anyway."

"It's nothing we can't handle," Amethyst insisted. "But Garnet said that none of us can leave the temple for very long."

"And she's cool with me coming by?" Kinzie asked.

"Yeah, she's fine with it," Amethyst confirmed. "Besides, I think Steven misses you. Hanging out with you was all he talked about yesterday. You don't wanna disappoint him, do you?"

Kinzie was silent for a moment. "That's a low blow and you know it," she replied. Amethyst was right though; Kinzie adored Steven about as much as she did Peedee and disappointing him was the last thing in the world she wanted to do.

"Yeah, yeah. Are you coming over or what?" Amethyst asked impatiently.

Kinzie laughed. "I'll be there in about an hour or so. Is it cool if I bring Dante with me? He can just run around on the beach so I don't have to take him for a walk."

Amethyst didn't reply right away but Kinzie could hear her talking to someone in the background. "Yeah, go ahead and bring him. It actually might make things a little easier for us if he's here. Oh, and one more thing before you come over: make sure you use the bathroom at your place. There's a spastic, green munchkin living in Steven's at the moment."

Kinzie sighed. "I'm afraid to ask, but I'm sure you'll explain once I get there anyway."

* * *

"Kinzie!" Steven exclaimed as Kinzie stepped out of her car, letting Dante out of the back. The shepherd immediately made his way over to Lion and attempted to initiate a play-fight, only to get swatted repeatedly.

"Hi, Steven!" Kinzie greeted, smiling when the boy eagerly wrapped her in a hug. "Do you mind telling me what's been going on? Amethyst mentioned that you had something living in your bathroom."

"Uh-huh," Steven confirmed with a nod of his head. "We finally managed to catch Peridot!"

Kinzie blinked. "Umm, that's awesome, Steven, but why is she living in your bathroom? Amethyst told me she had all sorts of weird escape abilities. What's stopping her from getting out?"

Steven shrugged. "When Garnet poofed her, it turned out that she was wearing limb enhancers over her arms and legs. She hasn't been able to use any of those powers without them and since Amethyst threw them into the ocean, she doesn't stand much of a chance of escaping."

"But she tried to kill you guys," Kinzie protested as they walked into the house. "And now she's living here? Do you really think you can trust her?"

"It's not really about trust," Amethyst interjected, walking over to Kinzie and Steven from where the remaining Gems stood in the kitchen. "Peridot has information about something called 'the Cluster' that's apparently a pretty big deal. We need to keep her close until she finally cracks and decides to tell us what's going on."

"I've already told you crystal clods that I'll never crack for the likes of you!" a high-pitched voice shouted from inside the bathroom. "Just you wait! I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna do what?" Amethyst shouted back. "I threw away your little robo toys, remember? By the looks of it, you're as good as useless without them."

"Wow, she sounds like a real ray of sunshine," Kinzie remarked dryly.

Amethyst snickered in response. "That's the understatement of the year."

"I can't really blame her, though," Steven interjected. "When she let me in to get ready for the day, she kept asking me if everything I touched was a weapon. I think she's just scared that we're going to hurt her or something."

"But what's going to happen to her after she tells you what she knows?" Kinzie asked, looking over at Garnet and Pearl as she sat down on the couch. "Are you just going to bubble her again?"

"It depends," Garnet replied. "We might still need her to help us stop the Cluster."

"But Amethyst just said she was powerless without her limb enhancers," Kinzie pointed out. "How will she be able to help you stop it?"

"She has a working knowledge of what it is and how it functions," Pearl answered. "If anyone could pick out its weaknesses, she could. Besides, she's also proven herself to be quite adept at building robots. That could come in handy as well."

"But, as you can see, she's not willing to tell us anything," Amethyst said, sitting down next to Kinzie and leaning against her shoulder.

"I'm sure she will," Steven chirped. "We just have to show her that we're not going to hurt her."

"Well, she's not making it easy," Amethyst said. "If we didn't still need her, I would've kicked her in the butt by now."

* * *

Later that evening, Kinzie and Steven had decided to walk to the Big Donut to pick up a couple boxes of donuts for everyone. They opened up the door to the house again, Dante bounding inside with them. Kinzie sat back down with Amethyst, smiling when she saw Dante pad his way over to Garnet. For some reason, the dog had taken an immediate liking to the tall Gem from the moment they met. Each time Kinzie brought him to the temple Dante immediately made his way to Garnet, either sitting next to her or attempting to get her to play with him. Garnet, it seemed, had developed a bit of a soft spot for the German shepherd and indulged him more often than not.

As the group ate their donuts (save for Pearl, who was offered some but had vehemently denied them), Kinzie noticed that Steven kept glancing over at the bathroom door.

"Something wrong, Steven?" she asked.

"Mmm... Not really. I was just thinking that maybe Peridot would like to try a donut. Maybe she'd like them," Steven replied.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up, Steven," Pearl commented. "Gems don't need to eat as it is and I doubt she'd be willing to take anything from one of us."

"Well there's no harm in asking, right?" Steven asked, standing up and looking over at Kinzie. "Why don't you come with me, Kinzie? I think Peridot needs another person she can feel safe around."

"Why would she feel safe around Kinzie?" Amethyst asked. "Homegirl doesn't even know her."

"Yeah, but Kinzie's a human," Steven pointed out.

"So?" Amethyst asked.

"So she doesn't have any Gem powers," Steven continued. "Or...any powers at all, really. Peridot probably won't see her as a threat."

"I don't see any harm in it," Garnet said. "But we'll be sitting out here in case she tries anything. I'm not opposed to sending Dante in there if I have to."

Steven nodded, smiling, and walked over to the bathroom door with Kinzie. "Hey Peridot, can I come in? I have something I wanted to show you."

"Is it a weapon?" asked Peridot.

"No, it's a type of food. Kinzie and I went out and got some for everyone and I thought you might like to try some, too," Steven replied.

"What's a 'Kinzie'?" Peridot asked.

Steven sighed. "I can show you if you open the door."

There was silence for a moment before shuffling could be heard on the other side of the door. Soon enough, the lock clicked and the door opened just slightly.

The first thing Kinzie noticed when Steven pushed the door to open the rest of the way was a head of pointy blonde hair. Sure enough, the same Gem that had appeared on her television was glaring up at her warily, like a cat being introduced to someone new. Peridot was much smaller than Kinzie had expected and the robotic-looking limbs that had appeared in her transmission had been replaced with organic ones.

' _Oh my goodness_ ,' Kinzie thought, barely hiding her smile. ' _She's so tiny and adorable! I wonder how mad she'd get if I picked her up?_ '

"Who is this?" Peridot asked Steven, her eyes scanning over Kinzie as if she were looking for something.

"Oh, this is Kinzie," Steven said, sitting down with his back against the sink. He held the donut out in Peridot's direction. "Do you want to try this donut? They're really good."

"What am I supposed to do with it?" Peridot asked, looking at the food uncertainly.

"You're supposed to eat it," Kinzie explained, following Steven's example and sitting down against the opposite wall, across from him.

"Gems don't have any need to eat," Peridot scoffed. "So no, I won't be partaking in your 'donut'."

Steven shrugged and began eating the donut himself. He and Kinzie had relaxed themselves against the walls they were leaning against, silently agreeing to wait for Peridot to grow comfortable enough with Kinzie there before saying anything more. Steven was mildly surprised that Peridot didn't voice any desire for Kinzie to leave, instead choosing to watch her from her current position, knees to her chest against the bathtub.

Fifteen minutes had passed and Steven had since scooted over next to Kinzie, the two taking turns playing Angry Birds on Kinzie's phone. Kinzie started suddenly when she felt something tug at her hair. She and Steven glanced up see Peridot examining the streaks in Kinzie's hair.

"Ummm... What'cha doin'?" Kinzie asked.

"Your hair intrigues me," Peridot stated. "I've never seen a human or Gem with multiple hair colors. Are you some sort of human subspecies?"

Kinzie shook her head. "Nope, not at all. I actually dye my hair to get it to look like this. It's completely black if left on its own."

Peridot quirked an eyebrow. "'Dye'?"

"I put products in my hair that change its color," Kinzie explained.

"Why?" Peridot asked. "It sounds like a complete waste of time."

"There's a lot of reasons, Peridot," Kinzie answered. "The biggest reason is that I like the way it looks. Now that I think about it, though, it's about time for me to change the colors up."

"No, it's not," Garnet said from the living room, earning a laugh from Amethyst.

"And what is that black thing you and Steven keep looking into?" Peridot asked, pointing at the phone in Kinzie's hand.

* * *

"So what did you think of Kinzie, Peridot?" Steven asked the tiny Gem as he got ready for bed that night. "She's pretty cool, huh?"

"She was...interesting," Peridot said. The green Gem hesitated before glancing at Steven. "Is there any chance she'll be coming back?"

"Oh yeah," Steven confirmed. "She comes over here all the time to hang out with us. Why? Did you want her to come back again?"

"N-No!" Peridot said quickly.

Steven's face broke into a smile. "You had fun hanging out with her today, didn't you?"

"No!" Peridot denied. "She's just far more interesting than those crystal clods!"

"I'll call her tomorrow and see when she's free to hang out again, okay?" Steven offered.

"I will agree to those terms," Peridot confirmed.

* * *

 **Ending Notes: A wild Peridot appears! Four chapters in but better late than never, right?**

 **I actually have a bit of news for anyone who's interested: I'm thinking about creating a drabble collection for this story that mostly consists of Kinzie playing games with the Gems and possibly a few focusing on her relationship with Peridot. If that's something you guys would like to see or if you have any ideas for the collection, please don't hesitate to let me know!**

 **As always, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome! Geekinthepink, out!**


	5. Robo Race

**Author's Notes: I know I've said it a million times already and I'll probably say it a million times more before this story is over, but I am absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of support this story has been getting. Seriously, thank all of you who have read, reviewed, favorited, and just shown this story all sorts of love! You guys are the best!**

 **A quick warning before we get started here: This chapter and the next one are adaptations of 'Back to the Barn' and 'Too Far'. I'm operating under the assumption that I've waited long enough that most people have seen those episodes, but if you haven't, these chapters contain spoilers.**

* * *

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Kinzie began as she, Amethyst, and Garnet got into Kinzie's car, Garnet holding Dante's leash. "There's a massive collection of artificially fused Gem shards incubating at the center of the Earth."

"Yep," Amethyst confirmed.

"And when this thing hatches, it's going to destroy the Earth and everything on it," Kinzie continued as she got Dante situated in the car. The shepherd gave a restless whine, afraid he was going to the vet, only to let out a happy bark when Garnet sat down next to him.

"That's about the size of it," Amethyst replied, hopping into the passenger seat.

"So you guys are going to build some kind of drill thing to get to the center of the Earth to stop it before it hatches," Kinzie finished.

Amethyst nodded. "You got it."

"Okay, sounds like a good plan. But why do you want me to come with you to help build it?" Kinzie asked. "I don't have any Gem powers and it's not like I have the know-how to build a working drill."

Amethyst shrugged. "Moral support, I guess. Besides, if you're there to help keep an eye on Peridot, it'll let us focus on building the drill."

"That and we like you," Garnet added, earning a smile from Kinzie as she started the car and the trio made their way to the barn. Steven, Pearl, and Peridot were already there, taking stock of what was available to get started.

Before they had left, Kinzie and Amethyst had stopped by Beach Citywalk Fries to grab some curly fries and some Fry Bits for Steven. Upon seeing them, Fryman had congratulated the pair on the recent success of their Tubetube channel as well as noting the positive change in Kinzie's behavior.

"I have to say, it's nice to see glimpses of the old Kinzie again," he had said as they were heading out. Kinzie hadn't told him what they were headed to the barn to do, just that the Gems were working on a 'special project' and needed her help.

"Hey, Kinzie, what did your uncle mean when he said it was nice to see glimpses of the old you again?" Amethyst asked. "Humans can't regenerate like Gems can and unless you have shape shifting powers that we don't know about..."

"I think he just meant that, since I started hanging out with you guys, I've been acting a lot like I used to before mom died. I know I _feel_ a lot happier and I guess it's carrying over into the videos as well," Kinzie replied. "Although, if I'm being honest, I really don't like the whole 'old you' vs. 'new you' thing. There is no 'old' Kinzie and there is no 'new' Kinzie; there's just Kinzie in different situations."

"Dang, girl," Amethyst commented. "Hashtag: deep."

"What can I say? Sometimes comedy, sometimes life changing," Kinzie replied before gesturing to herself with one hand. "Marble Onyx."

Amethyst laughed. "Speaking of changes, I am loving what you've done with your hair," she observed, noting that Kinzie had replaced her red and blue streaks with purple ones.

"I thought the ones you had before were fine," Garnet threw in.

Kinzie smiled, looking back to Garnet in the rearview mirror. "I know you liked the red and blue, but couldn't you just consider my purple streaks a fusion of the red and blue ones?"

Garnet was silent for a moment. "I guess I can let it slide this time," she finally said, earning laughs from Kinzie and Amethyst.

* * *

The three pulled up at the barn about an hour or so later and hopped out of the car, Dante trotting alongside them. Kinzie had decided to forego the use of Dante's harness and leash in favor of letting him roam free; she knew he wouldn't stray from them so long as she and Garnet were in the area. After glancing around for a moment, they noticed Steven standing at the doorway to the barn with an excited look on his face.

"Yo, Steven!" Amethyst greeted as they made their way over to the boy. "How are the wondernerds doing?" She gasped suddenly when they saw Pearl and Peridot building...something. "What's going on? Are they building the drill?"

"No, we're building robots now," Steven replied before the roaring of various tools drowned out the rest of what he was saying.

After a few moments, the roaring stopped and Pearl emerged from the inside of the barn wearing a spacesuit and driving what appeared to be a giant flamingo with arms.

"Giant robot!" Steven exclaimed.

"Hah! Pathetic! Now, behold my vision of ultimate power!" Peridot interjected as she emerged from the barn next, piloting a much stockier mech that resembles a two-legged crab. The mech snapped its pincers threateningly as Peridot let out a evil-sounding cackle, only to be stopped short when she glanced over at Pearl's mech. "Hey!"

"Mine's taller! I win!" Pearl declared.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlegems," Steven announced, standing between the two robots as Kinzie, Garnet, and Amethyst sat off to the side. "Welcome to the first annual robolympics!"

Garnet and Kinzie cheered and clapped as Amethyst stuffed her face with popcorn.

"This competition will test of robo-engineers skills of robo-construction and robo-piloting," Steven continued. "Whoever wins will get to be in charge of building the Cluster drill machine thing. Let the games begin!"

"So who do you think's gonna win?" Amethyst asked Kinzie as the first event started.

"No clue," Kinzie replied. "To be honest, I'm just impressed they were able to build those things so fast."

"Never underestimate the wondernerds," Amethyst said, resting her head on Kinzie's shoulder.

"I'm a little curious about how all this got started, though," Kinzie added. "I guess it's not too surprising considering Peridot's temper but the whole thing just seems a little random." She shrugged. "I guess I'll just ask Steven later."

* * *

The robolympics continued well into the evening and so far the scores were tied (expect for one point that was given to the tree that Pearl and Peridot both crashed into during the speed test). The two mechs now stood in the open field, two old cars in front of them.

"Alright guys," Steven announced. "This is the final event."

"You got this, P!" Amethyst encouraged.

"Get it, girl!" Garnet added.

"Ready, set, chuck!" Steven yelled.

Pearl and Peridot each grabbed one of the cars and threw them as hard as they could. The cars flew out well beyond the horizon and there was no crash that indicated that they had landed.

"Whoa," the four spectators gasped.

Steven shared a glance and a shrug with Amethyst before giving his verdict. "You both get a point on that one."

The group gathered around the chalkboard to tally up the final scores.

"Looks like our final score is...a tie!" Steven announced. "Well, that settles it. You both get to lead the project together!"

"No!" Peridot exclaimed. "This isn't over! I demand we have a tie-breaker!"

"Ugh, let's just give it a rest," Pearl sighed in exasperation. "That's it! We tied! We're the same. Let's move on!"

"No!" Peridot yelled again, latching one of her mech's pincers onto Pearl's mech and pulling it down to her level. "You're a pearl; you are beneath me! I'll always be better than you and nothing I've seen today will ever change that!"

"Well, have you ever seen a pearl do _this_?!" Pearl demanded, her mech delivering a powerful kick to Peridot's, knocking it onto its back.

"So, you wanna fight?" Peridot asked, getting back up and snapping her mech's claws again before ramming into Pearl. "Good. We should've done this from the beginning!"

"Stop! Giant robots shouldn't fight!" Steven called out.

"Umm... Should we do something?" Kinzie asked Garnet.

"Yeah. We should move!" Amethyst yelled, grabbing onto Kinzie and jumping swiftly out of the way of an incoming Pearl. They landed a short distance away and Kinzie glanced to the side to see that Garnet had grabbed Steven out of the way as well.

"Pearl!" Steven called out.

"It's alright, guys," Pearl said, lifting herself off the ground. "I've got this!"

"Be careful!" Steven warned.

"Kick her in the butt!" Amethyst yelled as Peridot landed behind Pearl. The two mechs collided again, each trying to push the other back.

"This is pointless! There's no way you're going to beat me!" Peridot yelled. "You're an accessory; somebody's shiny toy!" She ripped off one of the arms on Pearl's mech. "Where do you get off acting like your own Gem?! You're just a pearl!"

"That's right! I am a _pearl_!" Pearl retorted, delivering a swift right hook to Peridot's face, much to Amethyst's delight. "What you're saying may be true, but it doesn't matter. I'm still gonna kick your butt!"

Pearl was about to deliver a powerful flying kick that would've finished the fight...if Peridot hadn't grabbed the mech's leg and used it to bash Pearl around like a rag doll. The poor Gem was soundly defeated a moment later, sprawled out on the ground with a dazed look on her face.

Everyone quickly made their way over to Pearl, checking to make sure she was okay and congratulating her for holding her own so well while ignoring Peridot's demands for praise.

"Hey! Why aren't you listening to me?!" Peridot asked indignantly. "I won! I'm the natural leader here! She's just a common pearl!"

' _Common pearl?_ ' Kinzie thought. ' _What does she mean by that? I'm starting to wonder more and more about what goes on back on the Gem Homeworld..._ '

"You're wrong!" Steven interjected, snapping Kinzie out of her thoughts. "If pearls are really what you say they are, then Pearl isn't common at all! She trained herself to fight, she learned how to build things, and she works hard everyday to become greater than she already is! That's not common; that's amazing!"

"Come on," Garnet said, leading the others off. "Let's clean up this mess."

"B-But I won!" Peridot protested, causing Kinzie and Garnet to turn back to face her. "What about the rules?"

"Welcome to Earth," Garnet said with a shrug before she and Kinzie walked off again, leaving Peridot in stunned silence.

* * *

"Garnet, what did Peridot mean when she said that Pearl was 'just a pearl'?" Kinzie asked.

Garnet sighed. "Back on Homeworld, pearls are created as servants, barely recognized as actual Gem citizens. They aren't meant to be independent; they're only supposed to follow orders without question."

"So Homeworld created an entire race of Gems specifically to be treated as second-class citizens?" Kinzie asked. "That's messed up on so many levels."

"Mm," Garnet grunted in assent. "Fusion is looked down on as well. It's only viewed as a means to an end back there. Fusions are only supposed to be used for winning battles. It's like Homeworld has no idea about the emotional or intimate aspects of fusion at all. A small part of me had hoped that their attitude towards it would have changed in the thousands of years we'd been away but I guess I was wrong."

"That sounds horrible," Kinzie replied, unable to say anything else.

"Why do you think Pearl and I were ready and willing to follow Rose and jump ship the way we did?" Garnet asked.

Kinzie was quiet for a moment before glancing back over at Peridot. "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit, okay Garnet? I think I need to talk to Peridot for a bit."

Garnet nodded. "Just be careful."

Kinzie smiled and made her way over to Peridot. The green Gem still hadn't moved from her place in front of her mech and glanced up at Kinzie warily as she approached.

"Hey," Kinzie greeted.

Peridot said nothing in response.

"Ummm... I really like your robot," Kinzie said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. She wasn't lying; stylistically speaking, Peridot's mech had been her favorite. "I'm still amazed that you and Pearl were able to build those so fast."

"Don't patronize me," Peridot growled. "Any peridot worth their gem could've done it."

"So there's more than one peridot too?" Kinzie asked, sitting down in front of the small Gem. "Are there more than one of every Gem?"

"Obviously," Peridot replied with a roll of her eyes.

"And are all peridots as tech-savvy as you?" Kinzie asked.

"Naturally," Peridot answered. "That's what peridots are made for, after all."

"I'm curious," Kinzie said. "What made you guys decide to build these things all of a sudden? I thought we needed to make a drill to stop the Cluster thing."

Tch. That pearl had the gall to insist that she was as good a technician as me," Peridot ground out.

"But she is, isn't she?" Kinzie asked. "Besides, what's wrong with that? I figured it be a relief to have someone to collaborate with. At least you wouldn't be shouldering most of the workload yourself."

"That's not the point!" Peridot replied. "That's not the way it's supposed to work! Peridots are technicians; we're designed to excel in engineering. Pearls are just supposed to take orders. She can't just come along and suddenly be my equal here!"

Kinzie was silent for a moment before responding. "I think I see what's going on here. You think you've only got your technical skills going for you, right? You said it yourself: Peridots are designed to be engineers. So, you feel threatened when another Gem, a Gem from a lower class than you, is able to excel at the one thing you were made for. I'm assuming peridots aren't ranked terribly high in Homeworld hierarchy, are they?"

Peridot said nothing in response.

"Is that why you were so quick to bring up Pearl's status as a lower-class Gem?" Kinzie continued. "You wanted to feel like you had power over something, for once?"

Peridot sighed, averting her eyes from Kinzie's. "If you already have all this figured out, what's the point of saying anything?"

"I'm not saying any of this to make you feel bad, Peridot," Kinzie pointed out. "I just want to understand."

"Fine," Peridot said, sitting down in front of Kinzie. "In the interest of full disclosure, you're correct. Peridots are fairly low-ranking Gems, barely a cut above pearls. Without my limb enhancers, I'm left next to powerless. And since those crystal clods destroyed them, all I have left my skills as a natural technician. So yes, I don't take it especially well when some pearl, a Gem that never designed to do anything well besides serve her master, comes out of nowhere with technical skills equal to my own."

"Fair enough," Kinzie replied. "But doesn't that make what Pearl's become an encouraging prospect?"

"Is that what passes for Earth logic?" Peridot asked. "How do you figure that one?"

Kinzie shrugged. "Well, Pearl was only ever supposed to be a servant, right? But she taught herself to be so much more than that. If she can manage it, who's to say that you can't become more than you were supposed to be, too? I'm not saying it'll be easy but you're never going to know if you don't try." She stood up, dusting off her jeans. "Well, I'd better get back over there and help them with the cleanup. But think about what I said, okay Peri?"

"Kinzie, wait," Peridot said, grabbing onto Kinzie's wrist before she could move away. "Don't...Don't tell anyone what we talked about, alright?"

Kinzie blinked before smiling down at the Gem. "My lips are sealed." She knelt down to Peridot's level again. "But I do have one more thing I wanted to ask you."

Peridot sighed. "Fine. Just make it quick."

"Is that a helmet or is it actually your hair?" Kinzie asked, pointing to the top of Peridot's head.

Peridot stared at Kinzie with a 'did you seriously just ask me that' look on her face. "It's my hair. Why would you think it was a helmet?"

Kinzie shrugged. "I dunno. I just figured that since you fall on your face so often..." She trailed off, reaching out to run her fingers through the triangular mass. "Oh wow, it's really soft. How do you get it to stay like this?"

"It just stays on its own, I guess," Peridot replied, too stunned by Kinzie's actions to do anything to protest them, especially since they were far from unpleasant and she had to stop herself from leaning into Kinzie's touch.

As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, Kinzie cleared her throat and pulled her hands away. "Umm... Sorry about that. I, uh, I couldn't help myself." She glanced around awkwardly for a moment before standing up again. "Well, I guess I'd better get back over there. I'll talk to you later, Peri."

' _I was right; she's an interesting one,_ ' Peridot thought as she watched Kinzie walk back over to Amethyst. ' _Now I just have to figure out a way to get her to do that again._ '

* * *

"What were you and Peridot talking about?" Amethyst asked when Kinzie finally reached her.

"Nothing serious," Kinzie answered, watching as Peridot walked over to Pearl, drill in hand. "But I do feel like I understand her a little better."

Amethyst quirked an eyebrow, letting out a short laugh. "Why is understanding her so important to you? Does it have anything to do with that nerd fetish of yours?"

Kinzie rolled her eyes. "It's not a 'fetish', Amethyst. We talked about this. I just happen to have a preference for nerdy girls." A small smile graced her face. "I also have a thing for blondes, so Peridot's two for two right now."

Amethyst shook her head. "You have weird tastes, Kinzie."

Kinzie shrugged. "I like to think of them as...daringly different."

* * *

 **Ending Notes: Super bummed about the hiatus, but that's not going to stop me from updating!**

 **Also, I have a friend that's been drawing 'concept art' for this story for me! Most of the pictures she's done are of Kinzie by herself or showcasing her relationships with the other characters. One of the pictures she drew gave me the idea for whole 'playing with Peridot's hair' thing. She also did a really cute one of Kinzie and Amethyst chasing seagulls. I don't know if she'll ever see this, but if she does: Thank you so much, Rachel!**

 **Another fun fact that none of you asked for: This same friend ships Kinzie/Sour Cream and is convinced that if they could fuse, they would make Adam Lambert in his 'If I Had You' music video.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading and, once again, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome and encouraged! Geekinthepink, out!**


	6. Nerd

**Author's Notes: OMG, did you guys see the newest SU short?! Are Steven and Jamie not the cutest little cinnamon rolls ever?**

 **Also, I received a couple PM's asking me about Kinzie's height so I figured I'd just say something here in case anyone else wanted to know: Kinzie is about as tall as Peridot was with her limb enhancers.**

 **This chapter is an adaptation of the most recent SU episode, 'Too Far', so if you haven't had a chance to watch it yet, I would definitely recommend that you do so before you read this.**

 **Again, thank you all so much for reading and showing this story love! You guys keep topping yourselves with each chapter I upload and I could not be more grateful!**

* * *

Peridot stood up from her position in front of Kinzie. The human female had taken to napping against the interior wall of the barn since production of the drill began and today was no exception. Peridot had been concerned the first time she'd noticed Kinzie 'sleeping', fearing that she was malfunctioning in some way. Even after Steven explained what 'sleep' was and that it was a natural behavior for humans, Peridot still found herself baffled by it. It seemed downright maladaptive from an evolutionary standpoint; leaving yourself vulnerable for an extended period of time all for the sake of restoring energy. Coupled with a human's need to feed, it made Peridot wonder how the species had survived this long.

So the green Gem had taken it upon herself to watch over Kinzie whenever she would take one of these 'naps', both to observe this strange behavior and to make sure no harm befell the girl. Amethyst had naturally made some teasing comments regarding the behavior, insinuating that Peridot was beginning to 'care' about Kinzie. Peridot had simply retorted that should something happen to Kinzie, she would be out a valuable source of information and counsel, but there was no denying that the thought of something bad happening to Kinzie bothered Peridot more than she cared to admit.

"I've finished drawing up the blueprints for the drill head," Pearl called, snapping Peridot from her thoughts and stirring Kinzie from her nap. "Peridot, if you could come take a look at this."

"Remind me again why I should listen to you," Peridot said as she and Kinzie exited the barn. "Oh, right," She pulled out the tape recorder Steven had given her and pressed 'play'. ' _The pearl here has exhibited an aptitude for engineering that I begrudgingly respect. Though that doesn't explain the spontaneous singing. Crying. Singing while crying._ '

"Why did you give her that?" Pearl muttered to Steven, glaring when Amethyst began chuckling.

"Well, we did destroy all her stuff," Steven replied. "I thought it might make her feel a little better."

' _That's Steven for you,_ ' Kinzie thought, a warm smile directed at the boy even as Peridot proceeded to use the recorder to call everyone 'clods' for the umpteenth time that day.

"Alright," Garnet said, walking back over to the group with Dante padding along next to her and a piece of straw in her mouth. "Dante and I chased away those cows. Let's get to work."

Peridot cleared her throat. "Before we begin, would you mind unfusing? It's making me incredibly uncomfortable."

Everyone sent an uneasy glance toward Garnet who, in turn, looked over at Kinzie.

"I need to borrow this," she said, gesturing to Dante's harness and leash. Not even a minute later, Peridot had been harnessed and tied to a nearby fence-post.

"What? What did I say?!" Peridot asked as Garnet walked away.

"Do we really have to do that?" Steven asked Garnet.

"Her having free reign of the place made _me_ feel 'incredibly uncomfortable'," Garnet replied dryly.

* * *

"Kinzie, are you alright?" Pearl asked as she and Kinzie sifted through various metal parts in an attempt to find tungsten for the drill. "You've been sleeping quite a bit lately which, for a human, is usually indicative that something's wrong."

Kinzie shook her head. "I'm okay, Pearl. I'm sorry to keep falling asleep the way I have been but I can't seem to get any decent rest at night."

Pearl quirked an eyebrow. "And why would that be?"

"I don't really know how to explain it," Kinzie replied. "I just keep getting this...feeling. A feeling that something really big is going to happen soon. I can't shake it, no matter what I do."

"Well, we _are_ about to go to the center of the Earth to stop the Cluster," Pearl pointed out. "Do you think that could be it?"

"That was what I thought at first," Kinzie admitted. "But I think, whatever it is, it's going to be even bigger than the Cluster. And the weird thing is that I don't feel afraid of whatever's coming." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not making any sense."

' _Earthlings are such strange creatures,_ ' Pearl thought before laying both her hands on Kinzie's shoulders, making a mental note to discuss this with Garnet at a later time. "Listen to me, Kinzie. We can't have you worrying yourself into exhaustion over this. Whatever's coming, we made an oath to protect this planet and everything that lives on it. You can believe in us, Kinzie, so try not to get too worked up over this. Besides, we need you living in the present right now. Someone's got to keep Amethyst on track."

Kinzie couldn't help but laugh. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," Pearl replied before looking over the pile of metal she and Kinzie had assembled. "I think that should be enough. Come on, let's go check on Peridot and see how she's doing."

The pair walked over to the fence-post to see Peridot taking apart a microwave, Steven and Amethyst standing nearby.

"Peridot," Pearl began. "If you can get the magnatron out of that microwave, we'll have everything we need. Except for the drill head."

"Why don't I just get an injector drill head from the Kindergarten?" Peridot suggested.

"Oh... Well, I guess that's something you could try," Pearl hesitantly agreed.

"She's not going to the Kindergarten without a chaperon," Garnet called from inside the barn.

"What?!" Peridot protested. "You've got to be joking!"

"You'll know when I'm joking," Garnet retorted, dropping a stack of tires onto the ground.

"Me and Steven can go with her!" Amethyst volunteered.

"Yeah, we'll keep an eye on her!" Steven added as Garnet walked up to them.

"Approved," she agreed. "Keep her in line, Amethyst."

"You got it!" Amethyst replied with a smile and a salute.

* * *

Kinzie wasn't sure what happened during the trip to the Kindergarten but she was mildly concerned by Amethyst's sullen expression when the trio returned with the drill head, especially since she seemed so happy when they left. She was even more concerned when Amethyst immediately made her way over to her and told her they needed to talk.

"Is everything okay, Amethyst?" Kinzie asked as she sifted through more material to take to Pearl.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Amethyst bit out. "I mean, despite the fact that I'm a defective soldier Gem, it's all good up in here."

Kinzie blinked. "Wait, what? What makes you think you're defective?"

Amethyst took a deep breath. "When we were at the Kindergarten, Peridot started going on about how I should be the one leading the Gems since Garnet's a fusion, Pearl's a servant Gem, and Steven's a hybrid. She said I was 'the only Crystal Gem who was actually a Gem', despite the fact that I'm defective."

"And how are you defective?" Kinzie asked.

"Apparently I stayed in the ground for 500 years longer than I was supposed to," Amethyst explained, flopping down next to Kinzie and resting her head on her friend's leg. "I'm only about half the size I should be. It's bad enough that I was made the way I was, but I didn't even come out right. I'm a complete waste, Kinzie. And then, Peridot has the nerve to just stand there and laugh about the whole thing! She made it sound like it was one big joke to her!"

"Amethyst," Kinzie began calmly, trying not to upset the purple Gem further. "First of all, you're not a waste. Not even close. What does it matter if you didn't 'come out right'? I wasn't aware that there was a 'right' way to pop out of the ground. I wish there was more that I could say to make you feel better about finding this out but I think a lot of this is way over my head." She smiled down at Amethyst and began petting her hair. "If it helps at all though, I like you this size. You wouldn't be nearly as cute if you were bigger."

Amethyst immediately rolled onto her back to look up at Kinzie. "You think I'm cute?" she asked, her cheeks flushing purple.

"I do, actually," Kinzie answered before moving onto her next point. "Now, as far as Peridot is concerned, I think I'm going to have to play devil's advocate on this one. I completely understand why you're upset about what she said and you certainly have every right to be, but try to keep in mind that she's only ever known Homeworld's ways."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Amethyst asked.

"I just mean that she might not have realized that what she was saying bothered you," Kinzie explained. "It's not like it's common knowledge to anyone outside the Crystal Gems. And I'm kind of getting the vibe that she doesn't have much experience interacting with other Gems, which is why she has next to no social skills. Think about it; she treated Pearl really rudely until she learned to respect her and you heard what she said to Garnet earlier. The girl just doesn't know how to interact with anyone."

Amethyst sighed. "Yeah, you might be onto something there. It still really ticked me off, though, so don't expect me to talk to her any time soon." She smiled up at Kinzie. "Thanks, Kinz. I'm feeling a little better already."

"Glad to hear it," Kinzie said before gently tapping the Gem's forehead. "Now get up and help me take this stuff to Pearl."

"Eh, she can wait a minute," Amethyst replied, waving her arm dismissively. "Let me stay like this for a little longer."

* * *

After bringing Pearl the materials she needed, Amethyst completely brushing Peridot off when she tried to joke around with her, and Kinzie shaking her head when Pearl and Garnet looked to her to explain Amethyst's sudden change in demeanor, Kinzie and Amethyst were gathering some more materials and moving them around to the back of the barn. Kinzie had to admit that she felt bad for the green Gem, especially since being ignored by someone she was trying to befriend was so obviously affecting her, but this was between Peridot and Amethyst.

After dropping off another armful of metal behind the barn, the two were startled by the sounds of yelling and a deafening roar. They looked at each other before going around to investigate.

"Hey, what's all the yelling abo-," Kinzie cut herself off when she saw the drill head coming in her direction. She was too stunned to even consider moving out of the path of the drill but she could vaguely register someone yelling her name just before something barreled into her side, knocking her to the ground and out of the way of the drill. The roaring stopped a moment later and Kinzie saw Steven pop up from inside the drill.

"Are you okay, Steven?" Amethyst called out.

"It's okay. Everything's okay! It was just a drill!" Steven assured her in a dazed voice as he slumped against the drill.

Kinzie sighed in relief after hearing Steven reaffirm that he was alright, blinking when she finally registered the weight on her stomach. She looked up only to meet Peridot's eyes, the small Gem blinking owlishly down at her. Neither one said anything, continuing to stare at each other in silence, until Amethyst made her way over to them.

"Uh, Peridot," Amethyst began.

Peridot was immediately snapped out of her thoughts. "It was an accident! I swear!" she exclaimed, scrambling off of Kinzie.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Steven said, walking up to the three of them. "We know you didn't mean to start the drill."

"Uh...yeah," Peridot agreed. "That was an accident, too."

* * *

That evening saw the group working to clean up the mess caused by the runaway drill. Amethyst had refused to leave Kinzie for long, despite the latter's assurances that she was fine. And, understanding that Amethyst was still upset with her over the events at the Kindergarten, Peridot hadn't approached Kinzie yet. In fact, the last time Kinzie saw Peridot, she was in the barn, talking into her tape recorder.

"Hey, are you alright?" Steven asked Kinzie as they and Amethyst continued cleaning up. "That was a close one. It's a good thing Peridot was there to save you."

"Yes," Peridot agreed, coming up to the trio. "It is a good thing." She glanced over at Amethyst, who had turned away from her and was now leaning against Kinzie's side, arms crossed. "Listen. I, uh..."

"Just spit it out," Amethyst replied shortly.

"Ugh, why are you Earth ones so difficult?!" Peridot exclaimed before pressing 'play' on her recorder.

' _Log date 7112,_ ' the recording began. ' _This entire planet...is backwards. There hasn't been one instance of correct behavior exhibited by any of these Crystal Gems. I have concluded that they are all defective...but I am no better. I've failed my mission and now I'm working with the enemy. And I can't even get that right. I have apparently 'hurt' Amethyst's 'feelings', which was not my intent. If I've damaged my standing with the best Gem here, then I've made a serious mistake. I'm still learning. I hope you understand. I want to understand. I'm sorry. Peridot, facet five. End log._ '

"As you can see," Peridot began, only to stop when she noticed Steven and Kinzie's adoring smiles.

"Oh, Peridot!" Steven gushed, causing Peridot to scoff and turn away from him.

Hey, uh, Peridot," Amethyst said, finally turning to face the Gem, who was watching her with almost fearful anticipation. "Thanks."

Peridot's only response was a bashful smile.

"But you're still a nerd," Amethyst threw over her shoulder as she walked away.

"I'll be sure to add that to my notes," Peridot replied dryly.

"How do you feel?" Steven asked after Amethyst was out of earshot.

"Big," Peridot replied, glancing up when she noticed Kinzie moving closer to her.

"Now it's my turn," Kinzie said. "I didn't get a chance to thank you for saving me before so..." She trailed off, kneeling down so the she was on Peridot's level before leaning closer and pressing her lips to Peridot's gem. After lingering for a moment, she pulled back, stood up, and turned around to walk back toward the others. "Thank you, Peridot."

Steven stood completely dumbfounded for a moment before looking over at Peridot. A huge smile broke out on his face when he saw the equally wide-eyed stare and bright green blush that covered Peridot's face.

"Wh-What did she just do to me?" Peridot asked, reaching up to touch her gem.

"She gave you a kiss, Peridot," Steven explained. "It's how human beings show affection."

"Affection, huh?" Peridot wondered as she stared after the human female.

* * *

"Yeah, you totally don't have a nerd fetish at all," Amethyst remarked sarcastically once Kinzie had made her way back over.

"I already told you that it's a preference," Kinzie replied. "Besides, I couldn't help myself. She's absolutely adorable."

"She watches you sleep," Amethyst pointed out.

Kinzie shrugged. "So? You watch me sleep, too. How is any different when you do it?"

"I'm your best friend," Amethyst answered.

"Somehow that almost makes it weirder," Kinzie said jokingly.

* * *

 **Ending Notes: Moving right along with that Kinzidot relationship!**

 **I posted a list of some of the songs from Kinzie's playlist on my profile, too! I didn't want to post all of them since some will make later spoilers really obvious. Check it out if you're interested!**

 **Also, my best friend is following this story and is a pretty big Kinzethyst shipper. And ever since she put the idea in my head, I've been wanting to write a piece of Kinzie x Amethyst fluff involving Amethyst waking Kinzie up with neck kisses (since we all know she's down for neck kisses). So if that's something you're interested in, stay tuned. I'm going to post it as a separate one-shot and I'm hoping to have it up by tomorrow night.**

 **Thank you guys again for all the support and, as always, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome! Geekinthepink, out!**


	7. Made of Love

**Author's Notes: What's up, guys! Thank you all for showing the story love and for being patient with me while I worked on this chapter. I just started a new job and the schedule is a little wonky, which limits the amount of time I have to write. That said, I'm still going to do my best to post at least one chapter each week!**

 **Since we've already had development in Peridot's relationships with Pearl and Amethyst, Garnet has to be next, right? I was really looking forward to that episode and I'm more than a little bummed that the hiatus started before it aired.**

* * *

Kinzie woke up to the feeling of someone poking her face. Once her eyes had been freed from the blurriness of sleep, they focused on Peridot standing directly in front of her.

"Peridot? What is it?" Kinzie asked groggily. She glanced outside only to see that it was still nighttime. "It's not time for us to start working on the drill again, is it?"

"Uh... No, it's not," Peridot replied, glancing around nervously. "I was wondering if you could...help me with something." She took a breath. "I want to try this 'sleeping' business you humans do."

"Okay," Kinzie said. "Why do you need my help for that?"

"I've never actually...slept before," Peridot answered, shuffling around awkwardly.

Kinzie sighed before pulling Peridot down next to her, the poor Gem sputtering in protest. "I can't explain this to you," Kinzie explained. "It's much easier for me to just show you. And now that you're laying down with me, all you have to do relax and let yourself...," A yawn. "Not think...about...," Her eyes closed once again. "Anything..."

' _Well, that was completely uninformative...,_ ' Peridot thought as Kinzie fell back to sleep in a matter of seconds. The truth of it was that Peridot couldn't have cared less about going to sleep. Ever since Kinzie had given her that kiss to the gem, Peridot had been unable to keep the human off her mind for very long. The only reason she'd approached her tonight was because she'd felt an irritating desire to be close to the girl, something that wasn't easy to do since she was almost always with Amethyst.

Peridot stared at Kinzie for a long while, taking in her sleeping face and shivering every so often when Kinzie's warm breath ghosted over her neck. It wasn't long before Peridot began feeling her own eyelids grow heavy and her body began to relax. She jumped, another bright green blush spreading over her face, when she felt Kinzie's arms wrap around her waist and pull her closer. She sighed, nuzzling closer to Kinzie's body before glancing up at her face once again. Remembering what Steven had told her about a kiss being a sign of affection, she stretched herself up to press a kiss to Kinzie's forehead before she was able to stop herself. With that, she settled back down, closed her eyes, and eventually drifted to sleep as well.

* * *

"Kinzie!" Steven called out the next morning. "It's time to get up! We've gotta get started on the-"

Steven had to hold himself back from outwardly gushing at the sight before him. Peridot was curled up, sleeping next to Kinzie with one hand tangled in Kinzie's hair, while Kinzie had an arm around Peridot's waist. However, what made Steven internally squeal like a little girl was the dream being projected from Peridot's gem; Peridot, who had somehow gotten her limb enhancers back, strode boldly up to Kinzie. She then proceeded to take her into her arms, dip her, and plant an extremely passionate kiss on Kinzie's forehead. It was so simple yet so adorable to Steven, despite the fact that Kinzie turning into a giggling, blushing mess in response to the kiss would be completely out of character for her. That was the moment that a new ship had set sail for the young Universe boy.

"Hey Steven, have you seen Peridot?" Amethyst asked, making her way over. "Pearl's been bugging me to find-" She cut herself off when she caught a glimpse of Peridot's dream replaying itself from her gem. She snorted before she could stop herself. "Oh, man! You can't be serious! One little kiss and she starts fantasizing about macking on Kinzie like that."

"What? I think it's cute!" Steven said.

Amethyst let out a short laugh before turning around and walking out of the barn. "I gotta tell Pearl and Garnet about this."

Kinzie stirred at the sound of the voices. "Mmmn, is it time to get up already?" she asked, rubbing her eye. She glanced over to her side, smiling when she noticed Peridot next to her and wound her other arm around the small Gem's waist. "Looks like I caught a Peridot, huh?" She sighed happily and nuzzled at the green Gem's hair.

Peridot's eyes snapped open immediately. She glanced around, realized the position she was in, gave an undignified squeak, and scrambled back from Kinzie's grip.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Peridot demanded.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Kinzie replied, holding her hands up in a warding off gesture. "If I recall, you were the one that came to me last night because you wanted to try sleeping."

"I didn't tell you to pull me down next to you!" Peridot protested.

"But you didn't object when I did," Kinzie pointed out, a smile spreading over her face. "You could've moved at any time but you chose not to. Don't make it seem like I was trying to do something sketchy." With that, Kinzie stood up and stretched before heading out of the barn herself. "We'd better get out there, Peridot. That drill isn't going to build itself."

Peridot stared after Kinzie for a moment before glancing to the side and letting out another squeak when she finally noticed Steven standing there with a huge smile on his face and stars in his eyes. "How long have you been standing there?"

Steven leaned closer to the green Gem. "You like Kinzie, don't you?"

"Wh-What?!" Peridot sputtered. "I don't... She's just... No!"

"You don't have to hide it, Peridot," Steven assured. "I know you were dreaming about kissing her."

Peridot froze. "What? How?"

"It was projecting out of your gem," Steven replied simply. "Amethyst saw it too and I think she said something about telling Pearl and Garnet."

Peridot facepalmed. "Wonderful. So now all that Crystal Clods are going to know about this. Amethyst is probably going to tell Kinzie too, isn't she?"

Steven shrugged. "I couldn't tell ya, Dot. I wouldn't put it past her, but she might wait to let Kinzie know so she can have fun with the situation."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Peridot sighed.

Steven thought for a moment. "You know, if you really do like Kinzie, you should talk to Garnet."

Peridot quirked an eyebrow. "The perma-fusion? Why would I do that?"

"Well, Garnet's the living embodiment of Ruby and Sapphire's love," Steven explained.

"What is...love?" Peridot asked.

Steven sighed. "I don't really know how to explain it. It's a really complicated emotion and I think you're starting to feel it toward Kinzie. Garnet's the best one to go to if you needed advice about what to do."

Peridot was silent for a moment. "Will she be able to tell me how to get these persistent thoughts of Kinzie out of my head?"

"You won't know unless you talk to her," Steven insisted.

* * *

Unfortunately for Peridot, thoughts of Kinzie continued to occupy her mind, distracting her considerably from working on the drill. She had been determined not to approach Garnet about anything; what could a fusion possibly understand about what she was feeling? However, she was losing more focus by the minute. Every time she would hear Kinzie laugh or see her smile or even if she was anywhere within Peridot's field of vison, the Gem would get a warm feeling in her chest. She also developed a rather unpleasant feeling in her chest when Kinzie wasn't spending time with or near her; the feeling intensified whenever she would see Kinzie with Amethyst, doubly so when Amethyst drapped herself on the human female as she so often did. Early that evening, Peridot had decided that something needed to be done about all these distraction and, as much as it pained her to admit it, she might need Garnet's help after all.

Peridot cleared her throat as she approached the fusion in question, sitting on a bale of hay with Dante asleep on the ground next to her. "Garnet."

"Peridot," Garnet replied.

"I...umm...I wanted to ask you about-," Peridot began.

"You wanted to ask me about Kinzie," Garnet finished.

"Amethyst?" Peridot asked with a sigh.

"Amethyst," Garnet confirmed.

"Okay, well...," Peridot began. "I've been unable to keep thoughts of her from entering my head and I feel an urge to be near her and it bothers me when I see Amethyst cling to her the way she does. Steven mentioned that I might be...'in love'...with Kinzie, but I have no idea what that means or what to do about it."

"You're not in love with Kinzie," Garnet stated bluntly. "Not yet. True love takes time and work and it requires both people involved to know each other. You and Kinzie know next to nothing about one another."

"Then why do I keep thinking about her?" Peridot asked.

"You think about her because you're attracted to her," Garnet answered. "It's not love but it's a good starting point. If you want it to go further, get to know her and let her get to know you. If you both like what you find, you'll be able to start a relationship."

"But what if I've idealized her?" Peridot asked. "What if I find out things about her that I'm not fond of? And...what if she finds out those things about me?"

Garnet shrugged. "That's going to happen. Neither one of you is perfect and both of you have your flaws. True love isn't about finding someone with no faults; it's about caring about that person in spite of those things. If you do truly care about Kinzie, her flaws won't matter to you and, if she truly cares about you, yours won't matter to her."

"Do you really think something could happen between us?" Peridot asked.

"That's up to you two," Garnet replied. "But I've seen Kinzie make an effort to understand how you think after your fight with Pearl a few days ago and, from what I've seen and Amethyst has told us, you've been trying to understand Kinzie's habits as well. That's a good sign." She thought for a moment. "Who knows? Maybe you two will be the first human and full-Gem to fuse."

Peridot's eye twitched. "Why would we do something like that?!"

Garnet sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Tell me what you think fusion is."

"Fusion is a means to end," Peridot replied matter-of-factly. "It's a way to win battles, nothing more."

"That's what they taught you on Homeworld?" Garnet asked.

"Yes, it is," Peridot confirmed.

"I feel sorry for you," Garnet said. "You really don't understand."

"I don't understand what?" Peridot asked.

"Fusion is so much more than just a way to increase your strength," Garnet explained. "There's an emotional side to fusion as well."

Peridot gave Garnet a confused look. "What could possibly be emotional about fusion?"

"The bond between the two fusees determines how stable and harmonious the resulting fusion will be," Garnet explained. "Ruby and Sapphire's love for one another is why I'm able to remain like this. A fusion, a true fusion, is made of love. It makes you forget you were ever alone because you don't feel like two people anymore; you feel like one being."

"And you think Kinzie and I could make something like that?" Peridot asked.

"I think it's possible," Garnet replied with a nod. "Your personalities would make a nice balance. However, you both have a lot of learning to do before you'd even be able to attempt it."

Peridot was silent, taking in what Garnet had told her. This planet confused her more and more the longer she was on it. Nothing made sense here; a Pearl that didn't follow orders and had become her own Gem, a Quartz that _did_ take orders instead of giving them, a hybrid Gem, and a fusion that not only led the team but insisted that her reason for being was for love, not out of a need to fight. She had to admit, however, that this 'love' business intrigued her. If that honestly was what she was beginning to feel toward Kinzie...maybe getting to know her better wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"I think I understand now," Peridot said. She turned and began to walk away before turning back toward the red Gem. "And Garnet...thank you. For explaining all of this to me. I never thought I'd say it, but based on what I've seen over the past few days, I'm starting to doubt Homeworld's way of thinking."

Garnet nodded, a small smile on her face as the green Gem walked away. She looked down at Dante once Peridot was out of earshot. "Looks like Peridot might be able to turn herself around after all."

Dante barked happily.

"Yeah, I think so too," Garnet agreed, her smile widening just a bit.

* * *

 **Ending Notes: Just wanted to remind you all that I am still taking requests for the drabble collection I'm planning. If you have anything you'd like to see, please don't hesitate to let me know!**

 **Thanks so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	8. Be Safe

**Author's Notes: I seriously cannot tell you guys how much I appreciate all of you! Not to bring anybody down, but I've been going through a really bad depression since before I started writing this. Writing 'Bring Me to Life' by itself has made me feel so much better, but seeing this story get so much support just puts me over the moon! You guys have been motivating me to keep pushing forward and work through this depression and I can't thank you enough!**

* * *

"Kinzie...," Peridot began as she stood in front of the girl. She had decided to follow Garnet's advice and get to know Kinzie better, but getting her away from Amethyst for more than a few seconds had been a difficult task. The purple Gem seemed to delight in resting against Kinzie or touching her in some way and then glancing over to see Peridot's reaction. While that same unpleasant feeling boiled up in Peridot's chest whenever it happened, she had been able to contain it well thus far. Now, though, she had finally caught Kinzie while she was separated from Amethyst.

"What is it, Peri?" Kinzie asked from her spot sitting against a tree near the barn.

"I... I need you to do something for me," Peridot answered. She took a breath before continuing. "I need you to tell me everything."

Kinzie quirked an eyebrow. "Umm... Everything about what?"

"Everything about you," Peridot elaborated. "I want to know more about you and I want you to know more about me."

Kinzie blinked before smiling and pulling the green Gem into her lap. "Fine with me. I'd really like to more about who you are and where you came from. Just one question: What brought on this sudden urge to know more about me?"

"W-Well...," Peridot began nervously, not at all helped by her current position. "I've been...confused about a few things lately and I'm hoping learning more about you will help me sort them out."

Kinzie nodded, deciding not to press for anything more. "Okay. But where do I even start?"

"Well, humans are born and not made like Gems are, right? You can start by explaining how your body got its shape," Peridot said, absentmindedly reaching around and running her hands up and down along Kinzie's curves. "It can't have always looked like this. Unless you were favored with an extremely appealing shape your entire life." She stiffened when she realized what she'd said, glancing up at Kinzie just in time to see a wave of pink wash over her face. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

Kinzie smiled, her cheeks still pink, and leaned down to kiss Peridot's gem. "It's fine. And, just so you know, I find your shape pretty appealing too."

' _I ship it so hard,_ ' Steven thought as he smiled at the pair from across the field.

* * *

Over the next few days, Kinzie and Peridot both learned a great deal about one another. When they weren't preoccupied with completing the drill, Kinzie was explaining Earth culture as well as her own personal habits to Peridot. Peridot, in turn, explained Homeworld customs to Kinzie. Kinzie was bothered by the way Peridot described Homeworld's method of operation: a rigid caste system in which each Gem was expected to perform a certain function and nothing more. She couldn't imagine living in a world where your fate was decided for you and you weren't expected, in fact you were actively discouraged, from becoming more than you already were. As their relationship developed, Kinzie found her feelings for Peridot extending beyond simply thinking the green Gem was cute. She was beginning to realize that she was, in fact, starting to fall for her. Amethyst was right; she'd always had a thing for smart girls and she would listen to Peridot explain Gem technology for the rest of her life if she could.

Peridot, for her part, was baffled by much of Earth culture as well. Humans were not born with a preset goal the same way that Gems were; they were expected to find their purpose on their own. It confused her that humans were able to make lives for themselves with such little guidance but, of Kinzie's life was anything to go by, it was a system that worked reasonably well. Garnet had been right; Kinzie was far from perfect. Her inability to let something go once it had made her angry was one of her more glaring flaws. Just the same, Peridot was finding that Kinzie's positive attributes far outweighed her negative ones. She still wasn't entirely sure what it meant to 'fall in love' with someone, but she believed it was possible that she was starting to with Kinzie. She was growing more and more comfortable with the girl and her strange habit of pulling Peridot into her lap whenever they would have these talks. She was reaching a point where she craved some sort of physical contact with Kinzie; she would go so far as to twirl a strand of Kinzie's hair around her finger, both when they would talk and as she watched Kinzie sleep.

' _I guess being stuck on this cruddy planet isn't so bad,_ ' Peridot found herself thinking on more than one occasion.

Soon enough, the day came that the drill was finally completed and the Gems would be heading to the center of the Earth to stop the Cluster. Kinzie would be staying behind, knowing that she would only slow them down if she came along.

"Kinzie," Garnet said as they got ready to go underground. "You should head to the fry shop once we're underground. If something...goes wrong, you should be with your family."

"Okay," Kinzie agreed with a nod of her head. "Just promise me nothing will go wrong."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Amethyst said, wrapping an arm around Kinzie's waist. "We'll have that cluster beat before you know it!"

Kinzie sighed, a small smile on her face, before hugging Amethyst to her. "You promise?"

"Would I lie to you?" Amethyst asked, returning the hug. "We'll be back here before you even have a chance to miss us."

Kinzie nodded, releasing Amethyst and walking over to the other side of the drill and smiling again when she noticed Peridot leaning against it. There was something she'd been wanting to do for a while now and she figured now was as good a time as any.

"Are you done saying goodbye to the clods yet?" Peridot asked.

Kinzie rolled her eyes, the smile never leaving her face. "Not yet." Before Peridot could react, Kinzie had scooped the green Gem into her arms and pressed her lips to hers. The kiss was gentle and sweet, but far too short for Peridot's liking since Kinzie pulled back before she had a chance to respond.

The two stared at each other for a long while, green and pink blushes decorating their faces. Kinzie broke eye contact only when she noticed Steven standing off to the side, a huge smile on his face as his eyes gained their familiar star pattern. Kinzie proceeded to set Peridot, who had yet to take her eyes off of her, back down and rake her fingers through her own hair.

"Oh no... I'm so sorry, Peridot," Kinzie rambled. "I didn't even ask you and I really should have and... Let's just pretend this never happened, yeah?" She glanced back at the Gem, only to find that her dumbfounded expression hadn't changed nor had her bright green blush diminished.

"Umm... Peridot?" Steven asked as Peridot's eyes took on the same star-shaped pattern that Steven's often did. Steven smiled and looked over at Kinzie. "I don't think she'd want to pretend that didn't happen. So don't worry about too much, okay."

"Well...if you're sure," Kinzie mumbled before kneeling down to Peridot's level and addressing her again. "I need you to make me a promise, Peridot."

"Hmmm?" Peridot hummed, slowly coming back to reality.

"Promise me that you'll be safe, okay," Kinzie urged. "I... I need you to come back to me."

Peridot nodded, all traces of dazed giddiness gone. "I will. And, for your sake, I'll do my best to make sure the rest of these clods come back as well."

Kinzie smiled, picking Peridot up again and wrapping her in a hug.

"Hey," Amethyst called, poking her head around the side of the drill. "Sorry to interrupt...whatever this is, but we've gotta get going."

Kinzie nodded, setting Peridot down and giving each of the Gems another hug before watching them make their way underground. She sighed before looking down at Dante.

"I guess we'd better head home, huh?"

* * *

"Hey, Peridot," Steven began as the trek to the Earth's core began. "What are you going to do after all this is over?" The remaining Crystal Gems kept performing whatever task they had been doing, but all of them were now listening for Peridot's answer.

"What do you mean?" Peridot asked.

"Well...once we stop the Cluster... Are you still going to try to get back home? Or are you going to stay here?" Steven asked.

Peridot sighed. "I don't know, Steven. I admit, at first my plan was to get off this planet the first chance I got once the Cluster was stopped. But...seeing as I never received a response from Yellow Diamond, I can only assume that she won't be sending for me." A pause. "And after getting to know...certain things...about this planet, I've come to the conclusion that staying on this rock might not be as horrible as I initially thought."

Steven smiled knowingly. "You really care about her, don't you?" he asked. Amethyst glanced over toward the pair, curious about Peridot's response.

"I do," Peridot confirmed immediately.

Amethyst's eyes widened. She hadn't expected an answer like that out of Peridot. Ever since Peridot had started hanging around with Kinzie, the purple Gem had developed a nagging feeling of dread in her stomach. Amethyst had tried to surpress and deny the feeling multiple times but she knew perfectly well what it was: she was afraid that Peridot would end up taking Kinzie away from her. She wasn't entirely sure that Kinzie knew about the green Gem's feelings for her; if she did know, she didn't show it. And if she ended up reciprocating Peridot's feelings...

"Is that it, Peridot?" Pearl asked, snapping Amethyst out of her thoughts.

"Yeah," Peridot replied. "That's the Cluster."

The Cluster was even more horrible than any of the Gems had imagined. The massive collection of Gem shards was looming before them. Every few seconds, it would pulsate with a white light, attempting to take its form, before the light would recede and it would lie dormant again.

"We don't have much time left," Peridot said. "It's trying to emerge. We need to destroy it now while it's still harmless."

"What's the plan, Garnet?" Amethyst asked, looking over to the red Gem.

"It's too big for us to bubble the whole thing," Pearl pointed out.

"Which is why we're going to break it apart and bubble the pieces," Garnet said. "Let's get started. We're going to be here a while."

"Looks like the basement is going to get real crowded," Amethyst sighed as they set to work.

* * *

Kinzie sighed as she sat on the steps leading up to the temple, Dante running around on the beach with Lion. After finding herself unable to sleep the previous night, she decided to head over to the temple and see if the Gems had made it back. They had been been gone for nearly 24 hours now and she was beginning to worry. The Earth hadn't been destroyed, at least, meaning that the Cluster hadn't emerged, but she couldn't stop herself from worrying about what would become of the Gems if they weren't able to stop it. A small part of her wished she had insisted on going along with them, but the reasonable side of her knew that she wouldn't have been of any help.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Dante barking. Glancing over at the shepherd, she noticed him facing the ocean and walked over to him, hoping it was the Gems. Kinzie wasn't able to see anything that looked like the drill or any of the Gems, but she thought she caught sight of something white and spiky just below the surface of the ocean. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, however, and Kinzie shook her head, thinking she was just seeing things.

Suddenly, Dante and Lion's ears perked and they glanced down at the ground. Dante whined and nudged Kinzie back towards the temple and away from the ocean.

"What's wrong, boy?" Kinzie asked, not moving from her spot near the shore.

Dante only whined again in response and nudged her more forcefully, Lion coming over and doing the same. Kinzie obliged the two creatures but was still curious as to why they wanted her to move closer to the temple. As if to answer her unspoken question, a low rumble began to sound from underground. A moment later, the drill head burst through the ground where she had previously been standing.

Kinzie blinked. "Oh. I guess that's a good reason for me to move, huh?" she commented, smiling down at the lion and dog as the Gems proceeded to exit the drill. "Good job, guys."

"Kinzie!" Steven yelled, hopping down from the drill and running over to her, latching onto her in a tight hug. "We did it! We stopped the thing!"

Kinzie smiled, returning the hug. "Well, that's a relief! I knew you guys could do it. And everyone made it out okay?"

"Darn tootin'," Amethyst said, walking over to them. "I just wish it hadn't taken so long to break it apart and bubble all of it. Ugh, I'm exhausted." She nuzzled against Kinzie's side. "Can I crash at your place tonight?"

"Fine with me," Kinzie agreed. "But you're already here. Don't you wanna crash in your own room?"

Amethyst shrugged. "Your bed's more comfortable."

"I wanna stay over too, Kinzie!" Steven exclaimed. "We can all play games together!"

Kinzie smiled and looked down at Amethyst. "Would you be up for playing something? I'm running out of prerecorded stuff to upload."

"Cool with me, chika," Amethyst agreed. "It'll be nice to do something that doesn't involve something trying to destroy the Earth."

Kinzie nodded before looking over at Garnet. "Is it okay with you if they stay with me tonight, Garnet?"

"I don't see a problem with it," Garnet agreed.

"Then is it also cool if I kidnap Peridot for tonight, too?" Kinzie asked, walking over to the Gem in question.

The green Gem blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I want you to stay over with me, too," Kinzie elaborated, scooping Peridot up into her arms.

"Umm... Why?" Peridot asked, bright green creeping onto her face.

"Reasons," Kinzie stated simply, kissing Peridot's gem.

Garnet shrugged, not missing the way Amethyst's eyes narrowed at the exchange. "It's alright with me. If anyone can keep Peridot in line, you probably can."

Kinzie smiled and whistled for Dante to come to her before turning back to Steven and Amethyst, Peridot still in her arms.

"Do you think it's finally over?" Pearl asked Garnet after Kinzie and Peridot were out of earshot.

"No," Garnet answered. "Homeworld's going to figure out that the Cluster didn't destroy the planet. I won't be surprised if they send someone to investigate in the near future."

"Can you see it happening?" Pearl asked.

"I can," Garnet confirmed. "I can also see a few things regarding Kinzie that have me concerned as well."

Pearl wrung her hands together worriedly. "Are they bad?"

"It's hard to say for sure," Garnet replied cryptically. "Besides, there's nothing we can do about them now. We'll just have to cross those bridges when we come to them."

* * *

 **Ending Notes: I am so sorry about essentially skipping over the whole thing with the Cluster. I was really hoping the show wouldn't go on another hiatus until after they'd beaten it, since I honestly had no Earthly clue what to do with it. The whole 'break it apart and bubble it' plan was the only one I could think of since it was supposed to be an automatic endgame for Earth if it hatched.**

 **Also, finally going to be getting started on my drabble collection. Since I've been so focused on the actual plot of this story, I haven't really been able to devote much story time to Kinzie and Amethyst (and eventually all the Gems) actually playing games, so this collection is going to focus on that along with some other random scenarios I thought up but didn't have a place to put them in the story. I wanted to wait until I had at least a couple planned out and I think I have enough to get it started now, so be on the lookout for 'We Are the Marble Gems'! I'm still taking requests for it, if anyone is interested.**

 **Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome! Geekinthepink, out!**


	9. Better This Way

**Author's Note: I do want to warn everyone beforehand that this is going to be one of the heavier chapters in this story. There are going to be quite a few mentions of death in this chapter, so please read at your own risk if that's something that bothers you.**

 **Don't really have a whole lot to say before this chapter except thank you all for being patient with my wonky work schedule! With that said, let's get to it!**

* * *

' _I need to stop doing this. It was probably nothing,_ ' Kinzie thought as she walked along the beach, Dante trotting at her side. She'd come back to the shore almost everyday since the Gems had stopped the Cluster in the hopes that she might catch sight of the white, spiky mass she had seen before. Even though she'd convinced herself that she was only seeing things that day, something in her told her to keep going back. She hadn't told any of the Gems about it; she didn't want to end up leading them on a wild goose chase.

Dante barked suddenly, startling Kinzie from her thoughts. She glanced around only to see that Dante had busied himself with attempting to dig something bright green out of the sand. She walked over to her dog, pulling the object up out of the sand. Upon pulling it out, she noticed that it was a small cylinder of some kind and after looking into the hole that Dante had dug, she noticed that there were more of them, ten in all. She gathered them up and dropped them into the messenger bag she was carrying, only to catch another glimpse of green in her peripheral. The next item she pulled out of the sand was a much larger cylinder in a darker shade of green with black along the edges. Kinzie quirked an eyebrow and put it in her bag as well before looking around for more items.

By the time she'd finished, she had gathered three more of the green and black cylinders as well as what looked like some sort of boot in those same colors. After looking all over that stretch of the beach and finding no sign of anything else, Kinzie hoisted her bag onto her shoulder, called Dante to her, and made her way back home. She made a mental note to ask Amethyst about what she'd found; she and Steven would be coming over the next morning and, when something weird turned up, it was normally Gem related. As she walked, she winced every so often at a feeling of pain in her side. It had been bothering her on and off for a few days now. Kinzie figured it had just been a strained muscle from working on the drill or something stress-related that she hadn't let herself feel until the Gems made it back, but the pain had only gotten worse from the first time she felt it.

' _Maybe a little rest will do me good,_ ' Kinzie thought as she arrived home, collapsing onto her bed without bothering to change into her pajamas.

* * *

Steven and Amethyst arrived the next afternoon via portal after deciding to bring Lion along so Dante could play with him.

"Kinzie!" Steven called as he knocked on the door. "We're here to grace your humble abode with our awesomeness!"

There was no response from inside the house, not even the sound of shuffling around to let them know Kinzie was on her way to the door.

"Kinzie?" Steven asked, knocking again. "Are you in there?"

Still no response.

"Now that I think of it, isn't Dante usually barking his head off right about now?" Amethyst asked. "I don't hear him at all."

"Maybe she took him for a walk or something," Steven suggested. "We probably should have called her first to tell her we were coming now."

Amethyst shrugged. "You've got her spare key, right? Why don't we just go in and wait for her?"

"Okay," Steven agreed. "Just try not to eat all her food this time."

As soon as they had stepped into the house, Dante came bounding towards them, stopping short just in front of Steven and pawing nervously at the floor.

"Hey, Dante!" Steven greeted, petting the dog's head.

"Hang on," Amethyst said. "If Dante's here, where's Kinzie? We saw her car outside... Something isn't right."

Dante let out a nervous whine at the mention of Kinzie's name and shared a look with Lion before heading off toward the stairs, Lion following immediately. Amethyst and Steven followed them to the doorway of Kinzie's room.

Amethyst let out a sigh of relief when they saw Kinzie curled up on her bed, eyes closed. "Still asleep, huh? She must have been up pretty late last night; she doesn't normally sleep in this long."

"But how come she didn't answer when we knocked?" Steven asked.

Amethyst shrugged. "Because the girl sleeps like the dead. There isn't much that can wake her up." She carefully made her way over to Kinzie's bed. "Hey, Kinz, time to get up." When she received no response, Amethyst gently shook Kinzie's shoulder. "Kinz, you gotta get up. We were gonna record today, remember?" Still no response. "Hey, are you feeling okay?" Amethyst asked as she moved Kinzie's bangs out of her face. Her eyes widened when her fingers brushed against Kinzie's forehead. "Kinzie? Can you talk to me? Can you speak?" she asked, her voice raising slightly with panic.

"Is everything okay?" Steven asked.

"Steven...," Amethyst began as calmly as she could. "I think something's really wrong with Kinzie. She's burning up and I don't think she can move or talk."

"Wh-What do we do?" Steven asked.

"You and Lion need to get her to the hospital as fast as you can," Amethyst directed, gently lifting Kinzie off the bed and placing her on Lion's back.

"What are you gonna do?" Steven asked.

"I'll head back to the temple and let the rest of the Gems know," Amethyst replied, shapeshifting into a bird. "I'll meet you at the hospital."

Steven nodded before hopping on Lion's back as well. "Let's go, Lion."

* * *

The next few hours saw Steven sitting in the waiting room along with the rest of the Gems, as well as Fryman, Ronaldo, and Peedee. When he had arrived at the hospital with Kinzie, she was immediately taken back for surgery. Dr. Maheswaran had informed Steven that Kinzie's appendix had ruptured and needed to be removed. He had passed the message along to everyone once they had arrived. The Fryman family had handled the news well enough but Steven was more concerned about the Gems, especially Amethyst and Peridot. He knew how helpless they had to feel; for all of their abilities, there wasn't anything they could do to prevent this from happening or fix it now that it had. All they could do was wait and hope for the best.

Dr. Maheswaran entered the waiting room a few moments later.

"Is Kinzie okay?" Steven asked immediately as he made his way over to her.

"She is," Dr. Maheswaran replied. "The surgery went as well as we could have hoped for, but her body is still weak from fighting off the infection. Right now, she needs rest and we'll need to keep her here for a few days to make sure there are no complications, but we expect her to make a full recovery."

"Can we go and see her?" Peedee asked as he made his way over as well.

"Yes, I'll take you to her in a moment," Dr. Maheswaran agreed. "I should warn you, though; she's going to be very tired when she wakes up so she might not be very responsive. She'll be fine by tomorrow after she's had a chance to rest, but she might not remember that you all were here tonight."

"That's fine," Peedee said. "We just want to make sure she's okay."

Dr. Maheswaran nodded toward the doors behind her. "If you head back through those doors, her room is the fourth one on the right."

Amethyst got up with everyone else and was about to make her way back to Kinzie's room when she saw Fryman stop next to Dr. Maheswaran. She paused as well, hiding herself behind the corner to hear what they were saying.

"Tell me what you wouldn't tell the others."

Dr. Maheswaran sighed. "I wasn't lying when I said Kinzie would make a full recovery."

"But?" Fryman probed.

"It was a close call. Very close," Dr. Maheswaran continued. "It's hard to say when the rupture occurred exactly, but it was clear that she'd been walking around with it for a while. If Steven hadn't brought her here when he did, she probably wouldn't have made it."

Amethyst sighed and pushed herself off the wall she'd been leaning against, heading off down the hall. She wasn't sure what upset her more: the fact that she'd nearly lost her closest friend or the fact that this had been brewing for some time, apparently, and Kinzie never said a word about it. If they'd had Steven use his healing powers, they might have been able to stop this mess before it started. Amethyst shook her head; there was no use thinking like that now. Kinzie _had_ survived and she was going to be okay. That was the important thing.

* * *

Just like Dr. Maheswaran had said, Kinzie wasn't terribly responsive. She gave as much confirmation as she could that she was feeling okay but it was obvious how worn out she was and that moving still caused her a fair amount of pain. The Fryman family didn't stay for very long but they did assure Kinzie that they would be back the following day and would let Kinzie's grandmother know what had happened as well.

"Are you sure you're really okay?" Steven asked again after Kinzie's uncle and cousins had left.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Kinzie replied weakly. "It just hurts me to move around much."

"Guess it's a good thing you were unconscious when I loaded you up onto Lion's back," Amethyst said.

Kinzie let out a weak laugh. "I guess so." She gave Steven a reassuring smile when she saw that he didn't look entirely convinced. "Steven, you don't have to look so scared. I'm going to be okay. I promise."

"I know you will. I-It's just..." Steven paused, taking a breath. "Tell me the truth; did you almost die?"

Kinzie glanced around the room, only to find that all eyes were on her now. She sighed before looking back at Steven. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. But don't dwell on that, okay. Any of you. I'm just going to stay here for a few days and then I'll go back home and everything will go back to normal. Okay? And look at it this way; I only had one appendix and since its already been removed, I won't have to go through this again."

Pearl nodded. "She's right, Steven. She isn't the first human to go through a procedure like this and she's not going to be the last one."

"However," Garnet began. "The doctor did say that she needed to rest and she can't do that with all of us here."

"Do we have to go?" Steven asked.

"Don't worry," Garnet said. "We'll come back and see her tomorrow." She turned her gaze toward Kinzie. "Is that okay with you?"

Kinzie nodded. "Of course."

The Gems slowly made their way out of Kinzie's room, Steven and Amethyst hugging her as gently as they could. Amethyst stopped in the doorway and turned to look back, only to see that Peridot had lingered and was still standing next to Kinzie's bed.

"Please don't look at me like that, Peridot," Kinzie said. "I've already said I was going to be okay."

"I know that," Peridot replied, laying her hand over top of Kinzie's. "It's just that...the thought of never seeing you again... You're the only thing that makes this planet bearable, you know."

"You can't think like that, Peri," Kinzie pointed out. "I know it was scary. I was afraid, too. But I'm still here. And, like I told Steven, I'll be back home soon enough and everything will go back to normal."

Peridot nodded. "I guess you're right. And...since it's entirely possible that you won't remember any of this tomorrow..." She leaned down and pressed her lips to Kinzie's, breaking away before Kinzie was able to properly respond.

"You know...I'd be fine if you wanted to stay here tonight," Kinzie said, grateful the operation had made her too tired to blush.

"And I'd be fine with staying here," Peridot agreed. "But if I stayed, the rest of them would want to stay too and I'd rather have you to myself."

"I second that," Kinzie agreed.

' _Unbelievable!_ 'Amethyst thought. ' _Why is she still fawning over Peridot?! Peridot didn't do anything!_ '

* * *

Amethyst was still fuming even after the Gems had left the hospital and were making their way home. She could feel Kinzie slipping farther and farther away from her and the nagging feeling in her stomach had grown considerably. The evidence that Kinzie was starting to return Peridot's feelings was mounting with each passing day and Amethyst feared that it was only a matter of time before Kinzie forgot about her altogether. The purple Gem was snapped out of her thoughts when Peridot cleared her throat.

"So...is happened to Kinzie a...common occurrence among humans?" Peridot asked.

"Well, what she went through is a fairly standard medical procedure," Pearl explained. "It does happen to a number of humans but I don't know that I'd say it's common. Regardless, it's better that it happened while she's young."

"What do you mean?" Peridot asked, a nervous edge to her voice.

"The older a human gets, the harder it is for their bodies to deal with complications and disease," Pearl explained. "If this had happened after a few more decades, Kinzie most likely would not have survived."

Peridot was silent, absorbing what Pearl had told her. She had always been aware that Kinzie, as a human, was a mortal being and that she would pass on one day. It was a fact that had always been present to some extent in the back of Peridot's mind, but after today's events, Peridot felt as though Kinzie's mortality was staring her right in the face. A human didn't have anything to retreat into when they got seriously hurt or damaged in some way; once Kinzie died, she wouldn't be coming back. Based on what Peridot had read, the average human only lived to about one hundred years if they were lucky. One hundred years was nothing to a Gem. Kinzie was twenty-three; she was already about a quarter through her lifespan. She would be gone before Peridot knew it. Considering that, would starting a 'relationship', as Garnet called it, even be worth it?

"And that's not even the only way a human can die," Amethyst added, picking up on the nervousness in Peridot's voice. If she did this right, she might be able to get Peridot to back off. "That's one of the suckiest things about humans; they're all ridiculously fragile. That's why it's usually best for us not to get too attached to them."

' _Maybe Amethyst is right,_ ' Peridot thought. ' _Maybe it'll be better if I don't get too attached. Kinzie's just going to die eventually anyway. And...being involved with all this Gem stuff is probably only going to shorten her lifespan. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen these other clods interact with many other humans. Maybe this is why..._ '

* * *

"Hey, Peridot!" Steven called the next morning. "We're going back to the hospital to see Kinzie. Are you coming?"

"No, Steven," Peridot forced out. "I'm not going with you."

"Aww, why not?" Steven asked. "I know she'd be happy to see you!" When Peridot didn't answer him, he shrugged and made his way out the door with the rest of the Gems.

' _It's better this way_ ,' Peridot thought as she watched them go. ' _It's better for both of us._ '

* * *

 **Ending Notes: This...was a really hard chapter to write, but I feel like it had to be done. I think the whole 'human mortality' thing is something that Kinzie and Peridot were going to have to overcome at some point and it was better to get it out of the way sooner instead of later.**

 **Second, it was really hard for me to write Amethyst deliberately sabotaging a relationship like that but I do feel like it's something she would do if she deemed it necessary. We've already seen on the show that Amethyst makes really bad and potentially hurtful decisions when she's emotional. She's already experienced what it feels like when someone she cared about (Rose) went on to persue a relationship and didn't spend as much time with her so I can see her being paranoid about it happening again. Additionally, Amethyst strikes me as a fairly possessive Gem so I can see her feeling threatened by Kinzie and Peridot's budding relationship.**

 **Don't worry, though! All will be right soon enough!**

 **As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated! Thank you so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	10. Make It Right

**Author's Notes: Once again, thank you all for all the love and support you've shown BMTL and WATMG! You guys are awesome!**

 **I have a bit of a request for you all this time (if you feel so inclined): I'm sure some of you are like me and frequent . I actually use the site frequently when I make my OCs to help me pick out different attributes of their personalities. Now, I know how I see Kinzie but I'm really eager to hear how you guys see her. So, if you would, leave me a review or PM with the top three tropes that you think describe Kinzie. My friends and I play this game all the time and it's a lot of fun! It's also really interesting to hear yourself described from someone else's viewpoint!**

* * *

It had been almost a week now. Kinzie had been released from the hospital and, though she was still sore and recuperating, was finally able to rest at home. Amethyst and Steven had agreed to walk and feed Dante for her while she recovered and they, Garnet, and Pearl had been back to visit her numerous times. For some reason, though, Peridot hadn't come to see her since her first night in the hospital. Initially, Kinzie had attributed it to Peridot not liking the hospital setting and she'd be more willing to come and see Kinzie after she'd been released to go home. But even then, there had been no visit or word from the green Gem. Kinzie kept trying to assure herself that there had to be some important and logical reason for why Peridot hadn't come to see her but, eventually, she slowly began to accept the fact that she was being ghosted and the more she thought about it, the more hurt she became.

Things hadn't been especially great on Peridot's end, either. Her mood had been even worse than it normally was and her temper tantrums had become much more frequent now that she'd cut any contact she had with Kinzie. Despite convincing herself that she was doing all of this to keep from getting hurt when Kinzie inevitably passed away, it didn't make her miss the girl any less. In fact, knowing that Kinzie was alive and close by almost made things worse because it gave her the option to see her and left the possibility open for them to run into each other. Continuing to watch the new videos Kinzie would post with Amethyst wasn't helping matters. She had told herself that Kinzie would most likely be better off with a Quartz like Amethyst; Quartz Gems were built to be soldiers, after all, so Kinzie would at least be protected if she was with Amethyst. Peridot couldn't say the same of herself. Without her limb enhancers, she was useless and she knew it; she couldn't protect Kinzie from anything.

"Amethyst?" Kinzie asked as she sat at her computer, editing the newest video. "Has... Has Peridot said anything about why she hasn't been coming around lately? Like, did I do something to upset her or something?"

Amethyst glanced up from her spot on the couch. "She hasn't really said all that much; she just keeps refusing whenever we ask her if she wants to come with us to see you. She's been a lot crabbier lately, though."

"Oh... Okay...," Kinzie replied. She edited in silence for a few minutes before a thought struck her. "Oh, Amethyst, I almost forgot! I found some stuff on the beach before I went to the hospital. I wasn't sure what it was and I meant to ask you about it but with all the craziness, I totally forgot."

"What'd you find?" Amethyst asked as Kinzie led her to the closet where she'd dumped the messenger bag she'd been carrying. Amethyst's eyes widened when she looked in the bag and pulled out all the green appendages Kinzie had found. "Kinzie, these are Peridot's limb enhancers. I threw them into the ocean when we first captured her. How did you find them?"

"Technically, Dante found them," Kinzie replied. "They were mostly buried in the sand and he started digging them up. I wasn't able to find the other boot-looking thing, though."

Amethyst snorted. "Don't worry about that. She detached it when she was trying to get away from us a while back. Steven's given it back to her, though."

Kinzie handed Amethyst the bag. "Will you give these to her for me? I'd say I'd do it the next time I came to the temple but...since she doesn't want to see me..."

"Uh... Yeah, I'll give them to her," Amethyst said, noticing the sad look in Kinzie's eyes. "Does this whole Peridot thing really bother you that much?"

Kinzie nodded as they went to sit back on the couch. "Of course it does. Peridot... She was... She meant a lot to me, you know? I kinda thought that maybe...we had something. I don't really know what it was but I know I meant something to her. I just...wish I knew what I did wrong..." A sigh. "I know I don't have any reason to be so hurt; it's not like she and I were a couple or anything. And maybe...this is for the best." Her eyes began to well up with tears that she refused to shed. "I'm sure Peridot wants to go back home."

"Do you want Peridot to go back home?" Amethyst asked, recalling Peridot's comment to Steven about how staying on Earth might not be so bad.

"Of course not," Kinzie replied. "But I also want Peridot to be happy. As badly as I want her to stay, I know it'd be selfish of me to expect her to give up on going home just to be with me."

"Hang on a sec," Amethyst said. "You...you really love Peridot, don't you?"

Kinzie nodded as she buried her head into her arms, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

' _Oh no..._ ,' Amethyst thought as she pulled her friend into a hug, unable to do much else.

* * *

"Garnet!" Amethyst called as approached the temple that evening, bag in tow. "I need to talk to you! It's really important!"

"Over here, Amethyst," Garnet replied from her spot near the shore as she recalled her gauntlets. "What's wrong?"

Amethyst took a breath before starting her explanation. "I think I messed everything up between Kinzie and Peridot."

"How did you manage that?" Garnet asked.

"I...kinda...might have...suggested to Peridot that...being with a human wouldn't be worth it since they just die anyway," Amethyst blurted out.

Garnet considered for a moment. "That explains why she hasn't wanted to see Kinzie lately. However, I'm getting a feeling that you don't _think_ you've messed everything up; you _know_ you've messed everything up."

Amethyst sighed, rubbing her arm. "Fine, fine. I messed it all up, okay. How do I fix it?"

"You might not be able to," Garnet pointed out.

"I wanna try!" Amethyst exclaimed. "I thought they were just attracted to each other. I didn't know Kinzie had actually fallen for Peridot! She's really upset and I thought I'd be happy having her all to myself but...it's not worth making her so sad."

"What brought about this change of heart?" Garnet asked.

"Kinzie said that she wanted Peridot to be happy, even if it meant they couldn't be together," Amethyst answered. "She was willing to give up on Peridot romantically if Peridot had wanted to go back to Homeworld even though she would have been devastated. That kind of selflessness doesn't just happen."

"And now you feel guilty for taking away Kinzie's happiness to satisfy your own," Garnet finished.

Amethyst sighed. "Are you going to help me or not?"

Garnet nodded. "I'll talk to Peridot tomorrow. You need to talk to Kinzie and tell her what's been going on."

"But...what if she gets mad and decides she doesn't want to hang out anymore?" Amethyst asked.

Garnet shrugged. "That's up to her. All actions have consequences, Amethyst, but you owe it to her to tell her the truth." She glanced down at the bag in Amethyst's hand. "What's with the bag?"

Amethyst glanced at the bag as well before tossing it over to Garnet. "Kinzie found Peridot's limb enhancers. She wanted me to give them back for her."

Garnet nodded. "I'll hang on to these. They might come in handy tomorrow."

* * *

"Okay Amethyst, I'm here," Kinzie said the next day as she approached the purple Gem, sitting next to her on the beach. "What did you want to talk to me about? It sounded like a pretty big deal."

"It is," Amethyst said, taking a breath before beginning her explanation.

Kinzie remained silent as Amethyst told her the reason behind Peridot's sudden coldness towards her, letting Amethyst speak her piece. The only indication that Kinzie was reacting at all was that her already dark eyes became even darker. When Amethyst finally finished and looked up at Kinzie, she noticed that the girl's eyes had lost almost all of their warmth and now looked something akin to dark tunnels.

"And why did you think saying something like that was a good idea?" Kinzie asked icily.

Amethyst winced at Kinzie's tone. "I just... I was afraid that if you and Peridot became a thing...you would just end up spending all your time with her and you wouldn't be there for me anymore. That's what happened when Rose started hanging out with Greg and then Rose...went away. I just...I didn't want to see it happen again. You're the first person I've ever felt like I can relate with and I didn't want to lose that." She took another breath. "But then I saw how sad you were and that you really care about Peridot and...I feel awful about the whole thing."

"Why didn't you just come and talk to me if it was bothering you that much?" Kinzie asked, her tone a little less sharp.

"I don't know," Amethyst replied, relieved that Kinzie's eyes were starting to look less cold. "I guess I was afraid that if I said anything, you'd think I was being too clingy or something and you wouldn't want to hang out with me anymore. I know it's not a good explanation, but it's the only one I've got." She sighed. "I'm really sorry, Kinzie. But I want to make this right and hopefully you'll be able to forgive me for all this."

Kinzie was silent for a long while, her gaze toward the ocean. After a quick sigh of her own, she turned back to Amethyst. "Well, I'm certainly not happy with you but I can understand why you'd be worried. I've had friends that dropped me like a hot potato as soon as they got into a relationship; balancing time between friends and a significant other isn't something a lot of people are skilled at. I'm not excusing what you did but I can empathize with you to a certain extent."

"Will you forgive me, then?" Amethyst asked.

"On two conditions," Kinzie replied. "One, never pull a stunt like this again or it's game over. Two, the next time something like this is bothering you, I want you to come and talk to me, okay. I feel like we should have reached that point in our friendship by now where neither of us is afraid to come to the other when something's bugging them."

Amethyst let out a sigh of relief before nodding her head in agreement. "You're right. I should have done that from the start."

"How do you propose we fix all this, though?" Kinzie asked.

"Garnet's talking to Peridot now," Amethyst replied. "If anyone can get Peridot straightened out, she can."

* * *

"Why did you drag me all the way up here again?" Peridot asked as she and Garnet stood on the temple hand that held Steven's washer and dryer.

"We need to have a talk," Garnet said simply.

"About what?" Peridot asked.

"About Kinzie," Garnet answered.

Peridot scoffed and glanced off to the side in an attempt to look uninterested. "What about her?" Her expression grew slightly concerned. "Is she doing okay? Did she get sick again?"

"She's certainly felt better, I can tell you that much," Garnet replied.

"W-What's wrong with her?" Peridot asked, unable to hide the concern in her tone.

"She's hurt, Peridot," Garnet answered. "She doesn't know why you've been avoiding her, but Amethyst has told me that she's been pretty upset lately. Your mood hasn't been much better and I have a feeling its related to the way you've been acting toward her."

"I just don't see the point in forming a bond with such a short-lived creature," Peridot replied, though her tone sounded unconvincing even to her own ears.

"That didn't stop you when we were working on the drill," Garnet pointed out. "After the first few days, you two were almost always together."

"That was... That was just because I needed information about human behavior," Peridot lied. "She seemed like the most knowledgeable source."

Garnet sighed. "I know Amethyst put some thoughts into your head that got you concerned over Kinzie's mortality."

Peridot was silent for a moment. "She was right, though. Kinzie's just going to die eventually, so I'm better off not getting attached to her."

"So you don't miss her at all?" Garnet asked.

"Of course I miss her," Peridot bit out. "I miss everything about her. That smile, that laugh, how focused she gets when she plays those games, the way she talks with her hands and-"

"Then why not spend time with her?" Garnet asked, kneeling down to Peridot's level. "You clearly have feelings for her so act on them. I know what happened to her was scary; all of us were afraid for her. And I know it's not easy to be with someone knowing that you'll outlive them. But you can't remain focused on that. The fact of it is that Kinzie's alive and she's going to be around for a long, long time."

"How can you be so sure?" Peridot asked.

"Trust me," Garnet said, pulling her shades down just enough to reveal all three of her eyes. "I can see." When Peridot still didn't look entirely convinced, she continued. "Kinzie's not going to be leaving us any time soon and wouldn't you rather her spend her time with you instead of moving on and forming a relationship with someone else?"

Peridot couldn't stop a growl from escaping her lips at the thought of Kinzie with someone else. It wasn't a possibility she had considered until now and it was one she didn't want to entertain.

"But what if she gets hurt?" Peridot asked. "I'm not skilled at combat the way you three are and I can't defend the way Steven can. Like this I...I can't protect her from anything."

"I thought you might bring that up," Garnet said, pulling Kinzie's bag out from beside the washer and tossing it to Peridot. "That's why I brought these up here."

Peridot gasped when she looked inside the bag. "These are my..."

"That's right," Garnet said. "Kinzie found them and asked Amethyst to bring them back to you. Since you didn't want to see her and all that. It's all there; we threw in the boot that we already had."

Peridot stared at her limb enhancers for a long while. "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Garnet replied. "But I doubt you screwed up so badly that Kinzie won't forgive you."

"I need to go see her," Peridot said as she began to put the prosthetics back on, sighing happily when she found that she was still able to access her abilities.

"She's right down there," Garnet said, pointing down to the beach where Kinzie was still sitting with Amethyst.

"How did-" Peridot began, only to glance back over at Garnet. "You planned this."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Garnet replied, waving her hand dismissively as she made her way back to the warp pad. "Let's go, lover-gem."

* * *

"Just be patient, Kinz," Amethyst said. "Garnet's gonna be able to get through to her."

"Are you sure?" Kinzie asked. "I mean, what if- What the?!" She cut herself off as she found herself surrounded by a bright green light, feeling herself being lifted off the ground shortly after. She looked around to try and find where the light was coming from, only to be pulled toward the porch of the beach house. Suddenly, the light surrounding her vanished and she dropped into someone's arms before being set back on her feet. She glanced up only to see Peridot looking down at her. "Umm... Hey, Peridot. Uh, you look different. It's a good different, th-"

"I'm sorry," Peridot threw out quickly before wrapping her arms around Kinzie's waist. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just scared of getting too close to you but forcing myself to stay away from you felt so much worse."

"It's okay, Perbear," Kinzie replied as she wound her arms around Peridot as well. "I understand why you were scared."

"But that's just it," Peridot said. "I'm not scared anymore." She took a breath before continuing. "I've thought a lot about it and now I've made up my mind. Kinzie, if you'd be willing, I'd like to give one of these...'relationships' a try."

"Peridot," Kinzie began, a smile spreading over her face. "Are you asking me out?"

"W-Well, I...yes," Peridot confirmed, a bright blush coloring her face.

Kinzie immediately nuzzled her face into Peridot's neck. "You know I'm not going to say no to you."

"R-Really?!" Peridot asked excitedly, only to clear her throat a second later. "Then let's make it official, shall we?" Before Kinzie could ask what she meant, Peridot proceeded to dip her and place a passionate kiss on her lips. She broke away and let Kinzie back up a moment later, a satisfied smirk on her lips when she noticed the pink washing over Kinzie's face.

"I...um... Wow...," was all Kinzie was able to say.

"I think it goes without saying that I'll be staying with you tonight," Peridot said. "And this time, _I_ get to be the big spoon."

Kinzie nodded, unable to say or do anything else besides grasp Peridot's hand and nuzzle against her neck once again.

* * *

 **Ending Notes: Consider this my apology for the last chapter being such a downer. This isn't the end for Kinzie, Peridot, and the rest of the Gems, though; they still have a long way to go before this story is over!**

 **With next week being another short week at work due to Thanksgiving, I'm hoping that I'll have more time to write. Of course, that'll all depend on the level of food coma I'm in, so I'm not going to make any promises for anything besides one update each for this and WATMG.**

 **As always, feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated! Thank you so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	11. Water Witch and Cheeto Puff

**Author's Note: Ahhhhhh! I finally get to introduce Lapis and Jasper to the story! You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this, especially for Jasper. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with her and I'm really excited to explore her and Lapis' relationships with the Gems and Kinzie. Especially considering that, in the next chapter or two, some serious stuff is gonna go down. That's all I'll leave you with for now but I'm really looking forward to writing it!**

 **A little heads up: The beginning of this chapter is a little bit...suggestive. Nothing too explicit but probably worth mentioning just to be safe.**

* * *

Peridot squinted her eyes when the morning light hit them before slowly opening them and blinking away any remnants of sleep. She sighed, figuring the events of the previous day had only been a dream and that she was still forcing herself to avoid Kinzie. Once she became a bit more aware, however, she realized that she wasn't at the temple and that something warm was snuggled up against her. She couldn't help but smile when she glanced down and saw Kinzie's purple-striped head. The girl was tucked against her with one arm around Peridot's waist and her face buried in Peridot's chest.

' _So yesterday really did happen,_ ' Peridot thought with a sigh of relief. She ran one of her now-floating fingers down Kinzie's cheek, only to frown slightly when she realized that her limb enhancers kept her from feeling Kinzie's skin. Kinzie smiled and nuzzled closer to Peridot.

"Wake up, Kinzie," Peridot said, kissing Kinzie's forehead. "You promised me you'd show me these 'movies' about the man of iron that I'm supposed to relate to."

"I dun wanna," Kinzie mumbled groggily. "I wanna stay in here with you."

"Well then, what if I get up?" Peridot asked as she began to inch her way backwards toward the edge of the bed.

Kinzie's only response was to wordlessly wrap her leg over Peridot's lower body, tighten her hold on Peridot's waist, and pull her back against her.

"Why are you so difficult in the morning?" Peridot asked in exasperation as she struggled fruitlessly against Kinzie's koala-like death grip, only for a blush to decorate her face when Kinzie nuzzled her face against her chest again. "I hope you realize that this means I get to nuzzle your chest later."

Kinzie's head shot up immediately, an excited grin etched onto her features. "Promise?"

"Seriously? _That's_ what gets you moving?" Peridot asked as she fixed Kinzie with a deadpan stare.

Kinzie rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, don't act like you're so above it, Peri. I bet I could get you to do just about anything I wanted if I bribed you with enough neck kisses."

"Pssh," Peridot scoffed. "I'd like to see you try."

"Challenge accepted," Kinzie said with a smirk as she began dropping kisses onto Peridot's neck. "If you do end up caving, we stay in bed for a little longer."

Peridot was able to initially put up a front of indifference but it wasn't long before she felt her sense of self-control waning. In an attempt to keep herself grounded, she latched her arms around Kinzie's waist, but she couldn't stop a soft moan from leaving her lips. She glanced down quickly, hoping Kinzie was too absorbed in what she was doing to have noticed the sound, only to find the human smirking up at her.

"Is it getting to be too much for you, Peridot?" Kinzie asked teasingly as she began to pull back from Peridot's neck. "I can stop if you want me to."

"I didn't say that," Peridot protested breathlessly as she forced Kinzie's head back against her neck.

Kinzie's smirk only grew as she took notice of Peridot's tone. If she kept it up for just a little longer, Peridot would crack for sure. She continued trailing her kisses along Peridot's neck and jawline, occasionally placing some on her lips, before switching to nibbling gently on the green Gem's skin. A wave of satisfaction overtook her when she felt Peridot's grip tighten on her waist and she pulled away to snuggle back against her.

"Fine," Peridot conceded. "We can stay like this for a little longer...but only if you keep doing what you've been doing."

Kinzie smiled before gently kissing Peridot's nose. "Oh, I'll do so much more than that."

* * *

"It's about time, you guys!" Amethyst shouted when she saw Kinzie, Peridot, and Dante making their way toward the temple that afternoon. She hopped up from the step she'd been sitting on and met them halfway, smiling when Kinzie let Dante off his leash and allowed the shepherd to tackle her onto the sand. "I was starting to think you weren't gonna show."

"Sorry about that, Amethyst," Kinzie apologized. "We lost track of the time."

"Lost track of time? Doing what?" Amethyst asked as she stood up, only to stop short when she caught sight of the marks on Kinzie's neck...and immediately busted into a fit of laughter. "Oh man! Are you serious?! Do you finally admit to having a nerd fetish now?"

"I prefer the term 'preference'," Kinzie corrected as she rolled her eyes playfully at the purple Gem. "And I think now I can safely say that it's not a 'nerd' fetish so much as it is a...'Peridot' fetish." She glanced over at Peridot. "You know, I'm a little surprised you're not yelling at her to shut up right now."

Peridot shrugged and pulled Kinzie against her. "Honestly, I'm in way too good a mood right now to care what she does or thinks."

The lighthearted mood was interrupted by a loud bark from Dante. Kinzie looked over at the dog to see that he was standing just beyond the tide and facing out toward the ocean, much as he had done the day the Gems had gone underground. Kinzie pulled away from Peridot and walked over to where Dante was standing, looking out to the sea. Sure enough, the white, spiky mass she had seen before had reappeared just below the surface of the ocean.

"Hey guys," Kinzie began. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who can see that thing."

"What are you talking about, Kinz?" Amethyst asked as she and Peridot made their way over to the shore. The white mass was moving closer, but had yet to break the surface of the water. "Oh no... No, it can't be. She can't be coming back..."

"Who can't be coming back?" Kinzie asked nervously.

"Kinzie, I think that might be Malachite," Amethyst explained. "Remember when I told you about the extremely unstable fusion that dragged itself to the bottom of the ocean? I think that's her." She glanced back to the ocean before turning back to Kinzie. "I'm going to get the rest of the Gems. You might want to get out of here while you can. If she's really trying to come back to the surface, it most likely means that Jasper's in control of her now. I doubt she's going to be happy to see us."

Nobody had time to do much of anything, though, as the white mass suddenly surfaced, revealing a massive green striped creature with four eyes and what looked to be a gem in the center of its face. It didn't appear to pay them much attention at first; it almost seemed to be struggling to move, as if something was pulling it back toward the ocean with each step it took. However, a loud bark from Dante caused the creature to look over towards the shore. It's eyes widened and then narrowed when it caught sight of Amethyst and it became more determined in making its way to the beach.

"Amethyst!" Garnet called as she, Pearl, and Steven rushed out of the beach house. "What's going on?! Why is Malachite here?!"

"I don't know! She just showed up!" Amethyst called back, looking back at the creature only to see that its glare had intensified at the sight of the other Gems and it was making its way toward them even faster now. "But I don't think she wants to talk!"

The creature seemed to be talking to itself as it came closer but Kinzie could make out two distinct voices when it did: a lighter, more feminine voice that sounded absolutely exhausted and a rougher, though still feminine voice that, while exhausted as well, seemed to be filled with rage more than anything else.

"Let me go, witch!" the rougher voice yelled. "I won't let you hold me here anymore!"

"And I already told you that I wasn't letting you go!" the second voice yelled back. "I won't let you hurt Steven!"

"You can't keep this going forever!" the first voice countered. "Keeping us fused is taking it's toll on you and once you let your guard down, I'll-" The voice cut itself off as it glanced at the shore again, this time catching sight of Kinzie and Peridot. The creature forced itself to the shore at a much faster pace but now its entire body seemed unstable, as if it was going to come apart at any moment.

"Garnet, what's going on?" Kinzie asked.

"Malachite's becoming even more unstable," Garnet explained. "The conflict between Lapis and Jasper is making it almost impossible for her to stay fused. Jasper's trying to pull away while Lapis is trying to keep them together so she can drag them back into the ocean."

"But they both sound so tired," Kinzie observed.

"That's to be expected," Pearl replied. "They've been fighting internally with each other for months. I'm surprised they even managed to stay fused for that long. Still, it might be a good thing for us to let them separate. I...I don't know that we could defeat Malachite but we might be able to fight Lapis and Jasper individually, especially if they're too worn out to be at their full potential."

"We're going to have to fight Lapis?" Steven asked worriedly.

"We don't know yet, Steven," Garnet replied. "That's a decision Lapis will have to make."

A sudden, bright flash of light interrupted the conversation. Everyone looked back to where Malachite had been standing, only to see two smaller Gems collapsed on the sand in her place. One was dark blue with a thin frame shoulder-length hair while the other was much taller and far more muscular, with an orange striped body and a mass of fluffy white hair. Kinzie figured that the blue Gem was Lapis Lazuli, which could only mean that the orange Gem had to be Jasper. Steven ran over to the blue Gem immediately and she smiled at him before retreating into her Gem.

The orange Gem suddenly looked over at Peridot and Kinzie again before pushing herself off the ground and making her way over to them.

"So Yellow Diamond ended up sending reinforcements for us, after all," Jasper observed. "Good work bringing her here, Peridot. Now let's take care of what's left of Rose's army and get off this miserable hunk of rock."

"Jasper, Yellow Diamond hasn't sent any reinforcements," Peridot replied after exchanging a confused look with Kinzie.

Jasper sighed. "Then why else would an Onyx be here?" She glanced over at Kinzie again. "I have to admit, I'm a little surprised she'd send one of you instead of another Quartz. No offense, but Onyx aren't really known for their physical prowess."

"She's not a Gem, Jasper," Peridot said as she moved in front of Kinzie. "I thought she was an Onyx too when I first met her, but she's a human."

Jasper blinked and looked Kinzie over again, much as Peridot had down the day they met. "But she looks just like a-" Before Jasper could finish her sentence, she too lost her physical form, leaving only an orange gemstone behind.

"Uh... What just happened?" Amethyst asked as she made her way over. "I'm surprised Jasper didn't try to headbutt you with that weird helmet of her, Kinz.

"She thought I was a Gem," Kinzie replied, picking up the gem on the ground and handing it to Garnet once the rest of the Gems had come over as well. "She called me an Onyx and said Yellow Diamond must have sent me here to help her and Peridot get home." She looked over at Peridot. "Is that why you looked at me so weird when we first met? Did you think I was a Gem too?"

Peridot nodded. "I was trying to find your gem. I've never actually seen an Onyx before, so I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for. From what I understand, Onyx are fairly reclusive and like keeping to themselves. Besides, they aren't under Yellow Diamond's jurisdiction so even if they were more sociable it isn't likely that I would have seen one. Jasper probably has, though, since she's of a higher rank."

"Speaking of, what are we going to do with her and Lapis now?" Kinzie asked Garnet.

"I think Lapis will be open to talking once she regenerates, at least to Steven," Garnet replied. "Jasper, on the other hand, is going to require much more effort."

"Regardless," Pearl chimed in. "There isn't anything we can do now except wait for them to regenerate."

"This is gonna be a long day," Amethyst groaned.

* * *

 **Ending Notes: So a wild Lapis and Jasper have appeared! I've been wanting to add them to the story forever but couldn't find a good place to introduce them.**

 **As for what Kinzie and Peridot got up to at the beginning of the chapter... I'm just gonna let you guys use your imaginations.**

 **Thank you so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	12. Jasper Explains It All

**Author's Notes: Not going to lie to you; this is pretty much an exposition chapter. Pretty much everything Jasper says regarding Homeworld is a personal headcanon of mine.**

* * *

"So, how long does it normally take for a Gem to regenerate?" Kinzie asked as she, Peridot, and the rest of the Gems sat in Steven's living room.

"It's hard to say for sure," Pearl replied. "It varies a bit from Gem to Gem. The longest we've ever seen it take it a few days."

Steven looked worriedly at Lapis' gem; he'd refused to let go of it once she'd retreated into it. Garnet had decided that it would be easier to speak to Lapis first before deciding how to handle Jasper. To that end, Jasper's gem had been bubbled to prevent her from regenerating before Lapis did. Instead of sending her to the basement of the temple, though, the Gems had elected to keep her in the living room with them.

Kinzie caught Steven's worried look. "It's going to be okay, Steven," she said reassuringly. "Lapis is a pretty powerful Gem, from what you've told me. I doubt it'll take her too long to come back."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Steven replied. "I'm more concerned about how Lapis is going to feel once she comes back. She may not have liked Jasper much but she didn't like the Crystal Gems either. I don't know if she's going to be willing to work with us."

"Well, she likes you well enough, doesn't she?" Kinzie asked. "Maybe you can convince her to at least give the Gems a chance."

Steven sighed. "I hope so."

As if on cue, the gem in Steven's hands began to glow and slowly rise up into the air. A bright flash lit up the room and Lapis stood in the middle of the living room once it had faded.

"Lapis!" Steven called, running over to the blue Gem.

"Steven. I'm glad you're okay," Lapis said with a small smile before looking around in confusion. "Where am I? And what happened to Jasper?"

"You're in my house," Steven said. "You and Jasper both retreated into your gems so we decided to bring you guys in here. Jasper's gem is bubbled right now, though, because we wanted to talk with you first."

"'We'?" Lapis asked before her eyes fell on the other Gems, her expression quickly changing to one of anger. "I don't have anything to say any of them."

"Please, Lapis," Steven begged. "Just give us a chance to talk this out. I don't want you and the Gems to have to fight anymore."

Lapis sighed. "Fine. I'll talk to you, Steven. _Only_ to you."

* * *

"Was it really a good idea to leave Steven alone with Lapis?" Pearl asked. They had all moved out to the beach after Lapis had insisted that she only wanted to speak to Steven.

"It can't be helped," Garnet replied. "Lapis made it clear that she didn't want to talk to anyone else. Steven probably would have been the only one that could get through to her anyway. I just hope she agrees to work with us at least somewhat."

"Do you still see those things you mentioned before? About Homeworld coming back and something happening to Kinzie?" Pearl asked.

Garnet nodded as she glanced over to where the girl in question was conversing with Amethyst as she leaned back against Peridot. "I do. And both of those things are going to happen soon. That's why we need Lapis on our side or, at the very least, not actively working against us."

Everyone looked up as the door to the house opened and Steven and Lapis emerged. Lapis kept her face neutral but the smile on Steven's face gave everyone a feeling of relief.

"Guys! Lapis is on our side now!" Steven exclaimed excitedly.

"I didn't say that," Lapis said. "I just told him that I was willing to put aside our differences. For now, at least. I want to be clear about one thing, though; I couldn't care less about this planet or any of you Crystal Gems. I'm only agreeing to set our past disagreements aside because I want to protect Steven."

"We figured as much," Garnet replied. "I appreciate your willingness to work with us all the same."

Lapis nodded before glancing over at Peridot. "Are you working with them as well?"

"I am," Peridot confirmed. "After the crash, I was stuck on this planet. I'd sent numerous distress calls to Yellow Diamond but never received a response. Since the Cluster was set to hatch at any moment, I decided to cut my losses and ask the Crystal Gems for help."

"Steven told me that you had stopped the Cluster, though," Lapis pointed out. "Why are you still working with them?"

"As I said before, Yellow Diamond hasn't replied to any of my distress calls. I can only assume that she's not going to send any help for me," Peridot explained before pulling Kinzie against her side. "Besides, I've discovered certain things about this planet that appeal to me quite a bit. Much like you, I'm working with them in order protect someone I care about."

"A human?" Lapis asked. "But...a human's lifespan..."

"We've been over it already," Peridot cut in. "It doesn't matter to me. I just want to be with her."

"Well now that we've got that squared away, what are we going to do about Jasper?" Amethyst asked.

"Personally, I think keeping her bubbled is the best course of action," Pearl suggested.

"But what if she'd be willing to help us out too?" Steven asked. "I think we should at least give her a chance."

"I wouldn't count on it," Lapis commented. "Jasper's far too loyal to Homeworld to even consider betraying it."

"So was Peridot and we were able to change how she thought," Steven pointed out.

"That was primarily because Peridot developed feelings for Kinzie," Pearl countered.

"Then why don't we get Jasper to fall in love with Kinzie too?" Amethyst suggested, laughing when she saw Peridot tighten her grip on Kinzie's waist.

"Because I'm a one-Gem woman and I'm already in a happy, committed relationship," Kinzie replied. "Besides, I don't think Peridot would share very well."

"Nope," Peridot agreed.

"However," Kinzie continued, looking over at Garnet. "If you'd permit me, I'd like to be the one to try and talk to Jasper."

"Are you insane?!" Amethyst asked. "She'll rip you to pieces!"

"Think about it," Kinzie pressed. "She's not going to want to talk to any of you and I doubt Lapis is one of her favorite people at this point. I don't know how willing she'd be to listen to Peridot either. Besides, I have some questions I want to ask her."

"And you think she'd be willing to answer you?" Pearl asked.

Kinzie shrugged. "Who knows? But it's worth asking at least." She turned her gaze toward Garnet. "What do you think?"

Garnet was silent for a while before finally nodding her head. "Alright, give it your best. But we'll be waiting just outside the house and I won't hesitate to bubble her for good if she tries anything. Keep Dante and Lion with you, too."

* * *

"Ready, guys?" Kinzie asked Dante and Lion as they stood in the living room, earning a bark from Dante and a grunt of affirmation from Lion. She sighed and held up Jasper's gem. She stared at it for a long moment before popping the bubble surrounding it. A bright orange flash filled the room almost immediately and Jasper stood before her a moment later. The orange Gem glanced around franticly before her eyes settled on Kinzie.

"You! Where am I? What happened to Lazuli and the other Gems? And who exactly are you?" Jasper asked. "Peridot said you weren't a Gem."

"You're in Steven's house. The Gems agreed to let me talk to you since you guys aren't really on the...best of terms. And you're right; I'm not a Gem. My name's Kinzie and I'm just a human," Kinzie answered.

"Seriously? They sent one human to try to negotiate with me?" Jasper asked incredulously. "What's stopping me from beating you into the ground? It's not like you have any powers to stop me."

"You're right," Kinzie agreed. "However, I think I should warn you that the Crystal Gems are waiting just outside the door along with Lapis and Peridot. From what I understand, you and Garnet were pretty evenly matched when you fought and since Amethyst is a Quartz as well, she should be able to give you a run for your money too. And that's not even getting into the fact that we're still next to the ocean which gives Lapis a field advantage." Kinzie then gestured to Lion and Dante, the two creatures staring at Jasper warily. "Not to mention the fact that you'll have to deal with these two as well should something happen to me. Lion's a magic familiar created by Rose Quartz, I think, and Dante's been bred to have exceptional endurance and stamina as well as one of the strongest jaws in the canine world. So you can either have a civil conversation with me or deal with everything I just told you about all at once. Your choice."

Jasper sighed after thinking over her options. "Fine. What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm curious about some of the things you said to me before you collapsed," Kinzie said. "You told me before that I looked like an Onyx and that they weren't known for being physically powerful. I asked Peridot about it once you'd retreated into your gem but all she was able to tell me was that Onyx are supposedly reclusive and they aren't under Yellow Diamond's jurisdiction. It's clear that Homeworld operates on some sort of hierarchy and I was wondering if you could elaborate on it."

"Homeworld is ruled by what's called the Diamond Authority, which consists of Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and White Diamond," Jasper explained. "The Gems on Homeworld all serve under one of the Diamonds and which Diamond they report to depends on the abilities they have. All the Gems under Yellow Diamond's command are primarily soldiers or Gems equipped to help maintain Homeworld's technology. The Gems under Blue Diamond all have elemental powers and all the Gems under White Diamond all have varying degrees of mental prowess."

"Does that mean Lapis would have reported to Blue Diamond?" Kinzie asked.

"Yeah," Jasper confirmed. "And if you had been an Onyx, like I first thought, you would've reported to White Diamond."

"What are the Onyx like?" Kinzie asked.

"Peridot was right when she told you that Onyx are reclusive," Jasper replied. "I haven't seen very many but the ones I did see all looked remarkably like you. Looking at you now, though, I can pick out a few differences. Your hair is way too colorful and your skin isn't nearly as pale. Onyx also have an air of stealth and grace about them and I'm not picking up either one from you."

Kinzie shrugged. "Eh. You got me there. What kinds of abilities do they have?"

"They operate in secret, for the most part, so I can't tell you exactly what they can do," Jasper said. "Like most of White Diamond's Gems, they won't reveal themselves to an opponent unless that opponent is already beaten. I do know that one of the abilities unique to them seems to be shadow manipulation; they can travel between shadows of objects and other Gems and they can also bring their shadows to life, detach them from their bodies, and let them move independently. Makes them pretty handy if the mission is stealth-based but I still prefer charging an opponent head-on."

"They sound almost like ninja," Kinzie commented.

Jasper quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nevermind," Kinzie said with a shake of her head. "I know Homeworld operates on some sort of hierarchy. How does it work? Pearls are supposed to be servants; Peridot explained as much to me. But what about other Gems?"

"All Gems are ranked based on their strength," Jasper explained. "Obviously, the Diamonds are at the top. Quartz Gems are some of the most powerful Gems on Homeworld so we have a pretty high rank. Onyx, though not as physically powerful as Quartz, are about equal to Quartz in terms of ability and tactical value, so they also have a fairly high rank."

"What about Gems like Lapis?" Kinzie asked. "She's got to have a high rank too, right?"

Jasper shook her head. "Actually, no. Since her power is conditional to whether or not there's water nearby, she's actually of a fairly low rank."

"And Peridots?" Kinzie asked.

Jasper scoffed. "They aren't much higher than Pearls. All they're meant to do is build and fix things. They can't even fight unless they're outfitted with limb enhancers."

' _The more I hear about Homeworld, the more I know I'd never want to go there,_ ' Kinzie thought.

"Do you have any other questions for me or can we end this interrogation?" Jasper asked.

"Just one more," Kinzie replied. "Would you be willing to work with the Crystal Gems? At least for a while?"

Jasper blinked. "Really? You're just gonna ask like that?"

"If I thought subtlety was something you understood, I would have used it," Kinzie snarked.

"While I can appreciate your directness, I'm going to have to say no," Jasper said. "I'm getting off this planet the first chance I get."

"Good luck with that," Kinzie replied. "Peridot's tried to contact Yellow Diamond numerous times since the crash and she's never replied. She didn't even send anyone else to try to find you guys. I know she's your leader but it seems like she sees you as cannon fodder."

"Like what? Your Earth expressions don't make any sense," Jasper said.

"It means she doesn't care if you survived or not," Kinzie explained. "Besides, working with the Gems wouldn't be so bad. I'm sure it'd be better than having them chasing you all the time."

Jasper was silent for a long time as she mulled over her options. Finally, she turned back to Kinzie and nodded. "Alright. I'll cooperate for the time being but I do have some conditions. First, I want to make it clear that this is only temporary. I plan on leaving this rock at the first opportunity."

"Fair enough," Kinzie said.

"Second, I will not be staying here," Jasper said. "Being too close to Lazuli and that fusion is enough to make me sick."

' _Oh boy, not this again...,_ ' Kinzie thought with a roll of her eyes. "Personally, I'm fine with you staying with me; I've got the space. But it's not really my call." She turned to the window where the other Gems had been listening. "Garnet! What do you think?"

"If you think you can handle her, then I'll trust you," Garnet approved. "Peridot pretty much lives with you now anyway, so you won't be completely alone with her. I think you might need a little more...insurance, however. Amethyst will be staying with you as well."

"Woo-hoo! Party at Kinzie's!" Amethyst cheered.

"Okay with you?" Kinzie asked Jasper.

"Whatever," Jasper replied.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Pearl asked Garnet.

"I think it will be," Garnet replied. "Besides, just looking at Jasper makes me want to punch her in the face again."

* * *

 **Ending Notes: I meant to get this up earlier today but my downstairs bathroom flooded so I had to spend most of the day dealing with that. Yay for adulthood!**

 **Following up on Amethyst's suggestion earlier in the chapter; no, Jasper is not going to end up falling for Kinzie or vice versa. Their relationship is going to be an interesting one but it's going to remain platonic.**

 **Finally, I've posted the first chapter of my Fire Emblem story so please check it out if you're interested!**

 **As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated! Thank you so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	13. Beautiful Oblivion

**Author's Notes: I am so sorry for the delay on this chapter! As my way of apologizing, I'll be uploading a drabble shortly after I post this chapter. I want to give you guys a chance to read this one first because part of the drabble takes place after the events here and I don't want it spoiled. Thank you all so much for sticking with me!**

* * *

Over the next few weeks, everyone attempted to adjust to the having two new Gems in their midst. Lapis was still stubbornly refusing to associate with any of the Gems and chose to associate primarily with Steven and Kinzie. She knew she had no reason to fault Kinzie for her imprisonment in the mirror or her captivity once she returned to Homeworld, so it didn't make much sense for her to be angry with the girl. The two had managed to ease into a friendship reasonably quickly, much to Steven's delight.

Jasper, on the other hand, had made it perfectly clear that she was still planning on leaving Earth as soon as a way presented itself. She remained detached from everyone, though she was slightly more tolerant of Kinzie, if only because she didn't see her as anything remotely threatening. She wasn't without her quirks, however; Kinzie had discovered that the orange Gem was very fond of Earth food, much like Amethyst, and Kinzie frequently used food as a bargaining chip when she wanted Jasper to answer any questions she had. Today was one such day.

"Can I ask you something, Jasper?" Kinzie asked as the handed the Gem a plate of waffles.

Jasper sighed but took the plate. "If you must."

"Why do you choose to stay loyal to Homeworld?" Kinzie inquired. "It doesn't seem like they're putting much effort into looking for you. Peridot told me she tried to get a hold of Yellow Diamond for a while before she lost her limb enhancers but never got a response."

"I wouldn't expect one of your short-lived species to understand," Jasper replied. "Quartz Gems are loyal by design; it's how we're made. I can't fight my loyalty to my planet anymore than you can fight your mortality."

"But I always thought that loyalty was more than just a personal trait," Kinzie rebutted. "At least some of it has to depend on the person you're loyal to, right? Look at Lapis and Peridot; Lapis went against Homeworld to try to protect Steven from you guys and Peridot and I are in a committed relationship."

"Neither one of them are highly ranked Gems back home," Jasper pointed out. "It doesn't surprise me that they jumped ship the instant they found someone new to cling to. You do have a point, though; it's much easier to be loyal to someone if they've given you a reason to be."

"Then why are you still loyal to Homeworld?" Kinzie pressed. "Even if they didn't know where you were, they could have at least sent a search party or something, right?"

"Homeworld is all I've ever known. It's the place I was made and the place I found my purpose. And if you can find me someone that proves to be worth choosing over Homeworld, I'll follow them to the end," Jasper replied.

* * *

"Uhh... Hey guys," Amethyst called from the porch a few days later. "You might wanna come and take a look at this."

Kinzie, Peridot, and Jasper made their way outside, looking up toward where the purple Gem was pointing. A large eyeball loomed in the sky, inching steadily closer to the ground.

"Is that another Homeworld ship?" Kinzie asked as she rubbed her onyx bracelet nervously, recalling the giant hand ship from a few months prior.

Amethyst nodded. "Yeah. Garnet warned us before that Homeworld would be sending someone to see why the Cluster never hatched. We need to get to the others. Kinzie, as much as I hate to put you in the middle of all this, I want you to come with us."

"I'd go with you anyway," Kinzie agreed.

"No!" Peridot protested as she hugged Kinzie from behind. "Why would you ask her to come with us, you clod?! What if something happens to her?!"

"I'm not thrilled about asking her, Peridot," Amethyst retorted. "But she might be our only defense if they have those Gem destabilizers with them."

"What are those?" Kinzie asked.

"They're devices that can disrupt a Gem's physical form and force them to retreat into their Gem," Jasper explained. "The runt's basically asking you to serve as our cannon fodder."

"But how am I supposed to stop them?" Kinzie questioned, looking over at Amethyst.

"The destabilizers only work on Gems," Amethyst elaborated. "Steven was able to grab onto the one Peridot tried to use on him and it barely did anything to him at all since he's half human. Since you're completely human, I doubt they'd effect you at all."

"I still think she should stay here," Peridot insisted.

"Peri," Kinzie began, turning around in Peridot's grip and placing her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders. "I appreciate that you're worried for me but I can't just wait here and hope for the best. I tried that when you guys went underground to stop the Cluster and all it did was fry my nerves." She sighed when Peridot still didn't look convinced. "I know I'm not strong like you all are and I couldn't even put a dent in...whatever's coming if I wanted to. But if I can help you guys, even if it's just by taking hits from a destabilizer, I will. I'm tired of sitting around and doing nothing. Besides, it's not like you could stop me even if you wanted to."

Peridot sighed. "Fine. Just promise me that you won't do anything stupid and you'll only get involved if you absolutely have to."

"Deal."

* * *

The ship had landed by the time the group had reached the beach, the remaining Crystal Gems and Lapis standing in front of it. Before them stood a Gem that Kinzie and Amethyst had never seen before. She had a build and outfit similar to Jasper's, so Kinzie assumed she was another Quartz soldier, but she was a golden yellow color and her Gem rested in the center of her neck. Her pale yellow hair looked to be about as voluminous as Amethyst's and Jasper's but it was styled in spikes instead of hanging loose down her back.

"Jasper, who is that?" Kinzie asked. "Is she another Quartz?"

"Yeah," Jasper confirmed, pacing up her pace to get to the new Gem faster. "That's Citrine and she's my ticket out of here."

Amethyst sighed as Jasper made her way toward the yellow Gem. "I thought you said you were making progress with her, Kinz."

"Getting her to actually call me by name instead of just yelling 'brat' at me all the time counts as progress," Kinzie retorted. "Besides, she made it clear that she didn't have any intention of staying here. It's a shame, though; I consider her my friend in spite of how obnoxious she can be. I know it's weird but I almost don't want her to go back," Kinzie looked over to Peridot. "What about you, Peri? Are you going to try and go home with Citrine too?"

"No," Peridot replied without any hesitation as they arrived next to the remaining Gems. "I made up my mind a long time ago that I was going to stay here. With you. I don't care about going back anymore."

"From the looks on your faces, I'm going to assume you know why I'm here," Citrine stated as she stared down the other Gems. "I'm also going to assume that you Gems are the reason this planet is still intact." Her eyes widened just slightly when she caught sight of Peridot. "So you've turned traitor, have you, Peridot? I figured the Lazuli would but I'd always thought Peridots had at least a shred more loyalty in them. I guess I was expecting too much."

"There's plenty of loyalty in me, Citrine," Peridot replied. "But none of it belongs to Homeworld. Not anymore."

"It belongs to the Earth now, does it?" Citrine asked.

"No, not the Earth," Peridot corrected. "I'm staying on this planet out of loyalty to a certain woman."

Citrine quirked an eyebrow before glancing at Kinzie. "Is it that dark-haired one behind you? Makes sense, I suppose; a weak species for a weak Gem." The gem in her neck began to glow and a large sledgehammer materialized in her hand. "Well, I'd say I have all the answers I need. I was ordered to wipe out the Gems responsible for interfering with the Cluster."

"But Lapis didn't have anything to do with the Cluster!" Steven protested as the other Gems readied their weapons.

"She's still a traitor to Homeworld," Citrine replied. "I'll bubble her too and Yellow Diamond can decide what to do with her when we get back home." She turned to face Kinzie. "My fight is not with you, human, but I also don't mind destroying anyone who gets in my way. If you wish to extend your limited lifespan, it would be wise for you to leave."

Kinzie scoffed. "Who said I was wise? I appreciate the condescending concern, but I'm staying."

Citrine shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Citrine," Jasper began, stepping up beside the yellow Gem. "I request permission to assist you on this mission and, in exchange, you will take me back to Homeworld with you."

"No," Citrine flatly denied, elaborating before Jasper could protest. "I have orders to dispose of you as well, in the event that I found you."

"Yellow Diamond would never-" Jasper argued.

"Yellow Diamond was the one that issued the order," Citrine interrupted, shooting a sharp glare toward the orange Gem. "You botched your mission, you let the remnants of Rose Quartz's army escape, and you were soundly beaten by a _Lapis Lazuli_ of all things. You even resorted to _fusion_. You are a disgrace to all Quartz soldiers and to Homeworld. We don't need you."

"Geez, Homeworld's even more screwy than I thought," Amethyst observed. "I didn't think they'd actually want to off one of their own just because they failed a mission."

"That's the way it is," Peridot replied. "There's no place for weak Gems. The only way to survive there is to prove your worth."

"It's wrong..." Kinzie said.

"Tell me, Citrine; if I take you out, will that be enough to prove to Yellow Diamond that I'm worth keeping around?" Jasper challenged as her helmet materialized.

"Hard to say," Citrine replied as sparks flew from her hammer. "Homeworld rhetoric has always been 'once a failure, always a failure'. But if you truly wish to make an even bigger fool of yourself..." A smirk appeared on her lips. "You're more than welcome to try."

* * *

Citrine was able to dodge each of Jasper's charges with ease; the fight almost looked like something akin to a bullfight. However, it was obvious that Citrine's patience was growing thinner with each charge. Finally, after Jasper initiated another charge, Citrine let out a fierce growl and swung her hammer, electricity radiating from the head. There was a resounding crack as she swung the hammer into Jasper's stomach. Electricity surged through the orange Gem's body and she was thrown back, landing in a heap on the sand.

"I don't have any more time to waste on you," Citrine ground out as she made her way over to Jasper, pulling a destabilizer from her belt.

"Is that one of those Gem disruptor thingys?" Kinzie asked Peridot.

"Gem destabilizer," Peridot corrected, activating her tablet and initiating a scan of the item. "It looks different from the ones we brought with us though. Not surprising considering how often Homeworld updates its technology." She glanced over to Kinzie only to see that the girl was no longer next to her and was running toward the two Gems.

"What are you doing, Kinz?!" Amethyst shouted.

"Exactly what you asked me to do!" Kinzie replied.

"I didn't mean for you to protect Jasper, too!" Amethyst yelled back.

"I told her not to do anything-," Peridot was cut off by a red warning notice on her tablet. "Hang on... That destabilizer has a different energy signature than the ones we used... Kinzie, wait!"

It was over in an instant. Kinzie had moved between Jasper and the end of the destabilizer at the last moment, yellow light tracing over her body. Amethyst had told her that the destabilizer probably wouldn't effect her, yet Kinzie could feel nothing but searing pain as soon as it touched her. It felt as though her body was exploding from the inside out. A pained shriek left her lips before a bright flash filled the area.

When the light finally faded, Kinzie was gone. There was no trace of her anywhere. The Gems, including Jasper, could only stare in shock at the place where Kinzie had been standing.

"That little fool," Citrine scoffed. "I warned her not to get involved in this."

"Citrine, explain this!" Pearl demanded. "Where did that thing take Kinzie?!"

"It didn't take her anywhere," Citrine replied. "Homeworld has its eyes and ears in all of our ships. We knew, based on the last disastrous trip to this dump, that our old destabilizers wouldn't work on the one called 'Steven' due to his status as a half-Gem. So, as a countermeasure, we upgraded them to work on organic matter as well."

"That explains why the signature was so different," Peridot commented. "But what happened to Kinzie?! Human beings don't have a gem to retreat into like we do!"

"It's hard to say for sure," Citrine replied. "All I know is that her physical body no longer exists. Obviously, this was the first time the new destabilizers were used so we weren't sure what kind of effect they would have." She readied her hammer again. "No matter, though. Once I crush all of you, I'll report back to Homeworld to let them know the first test on purely organic material was a resounding success."

Citrine was about to turn back to Jasper to finish what she started, when Amethyst's whip wrapped around her wrist.

"The only ones that'll be doing any crushing around here are us," Amethyst growled out, berserker tears streaming down her face.

"Why are you getting so upset?" Citrine asked with a roll of her eyes. "Because I destroyed the human? The girl was weak, so she didn't survive. It's the law of living."

"You don't know anything about her!" Peridot shouted as she charged her blaster, the rage in her voice slightly more restrained but still clearly apparent. "Kinzie was stronger than you could possibly understand!"

"And what does a Peridot know about strength?!" Citrine fired back. "This is getting us nowhere! Let's finish this!"

* * *

Jasper had remained where she had landed on the beach, still staring at the spot where Kinzie had been standing before she disappeared. She snapped out of her trance when Garnet stepped up next to her. "Did that human really sacrifice herself for me?"

"Yes," Garnet answered simply. "I doubt she knew what was going to happen when she did, but the fact remains that she was still willing to take that hit for you."

"Why?" Jasper asked. "What could she have gained from doing something like that?"

"Who knows," Garnet replied. "Human beings do a lot of things that don't make sense. But I overheard Kinzie tell Amethyst that she considered you a friend, even after all you've done."

"Look at what it got her, though," Jasper protested. "Now she's gone...and she's not coming back. It's making me feel something I've never felt before. I don't know what it is but I don't like it and it's making me want to rip Citrine apart."

"It's grief," Garnet explained. "Looks like you got more attached to Kinzie than you let on." She smirked when Jasper scoffed and looked away. "However, I think your grief is misplaced."

"What are you talking about?" Jasper asked.

Garnet knelt down and began sifting through the sand. "If things occurred the way my future vision predicted...a-ha!" She picked up large onyx from the sand.

"Isn't that the gem that was on the brat's bracelet?" Jasper inquired.

"The very same," Garnet confirmed.

"But...it's grown," Jasper pointed out. "It's at least twice the size it was before."

"Exactly," Garnet said. "That destabilizer did exactly what it was supposed to do; it caused Kinzie's consciousness to retreat into this Gem. Her human body was indeed destroyed but her soul has survived."

"So she's become a Gem; an Onyx," Jasper said.

"That's right," Garnet confirmed before placing the Gem into her pocket. "We'll have to worry about that later, though. We need to get Citrine out of the way first. Are you going to fight with us?"

"It's not like I have a choice," Jasper replied. "I can't go back home. But I'm not doing this for you or for this garbage planet. I'm doing this so I won't be indebted to that brat when she wakes up."

"Fair enough," Garnet affirmed. "Let's go."

* * *

 **Ending Notes: How's that for a plot twist?! The story's title makes a lot more sense now, huh? I really hope this didn't come across as too convoluted; I really wanted to find a way to make it work with what we already knew about Homeworld's technology.**

 **I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I've decided to split BMTL into two stories. The next chapter is going to be the finale of this story, but I will be writing a sequel for it and I'll still update WATMG periodically as well. I have a number of reasons for doing this but the biggest one is that I feel like I need to take a sort of intermission between the stories so I don't burn myself out and quit writing it altogether. That's not fair to you guys since you all have stuck with me for this long and since I have a ton of interesting things planned. I fully intend to drag the Diamond Authority into this and I'm really excited to introduce White Diamond. I also may or may not a couple of fusions planned as well.**

 **Thank you guys so much for hanging with me! I still can't put into words how much I appreciate all of you! And, as promised, to make up for the delay getting this chapter to you, I'll be posting a drabble later on this evening as well!**

 **As always, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome! Thanks for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


	14. Finale: Rebirth

**Author's Notes: Well, here we are; the final chapter of BMTL. I don't really have too much to say here before we get started except to tell that if you want a better idea of what Kinzie's Gem outfit looks like (since I suck at describing stuff), you can do a Google Image search for 'luka megurine conflict module' and it should be the first picture you see. Obviously there are some differences, but that's what I based her outfit on.**

* * *

' _Where am I?_ ' Kinzie asked herself as she floated through a black abyss. ' _I was in so much pain a second ago. Now I can't feel anything. Am I dead?_ ' She sighed. ' _Whatever. I guess it doesn't matter. Nothing left to do but sleep now, I suppose._ '

* * *

The fight with Citrine ended in reasonably short order; even the most powerful soldier was no match for seven Gems at once. Garnet had bubbled the Gem and sent her to the basement of the temple.

"I still don't understand why you wouldn't let me shatter her," Amethyst growled. "She deserves it for what shes done."

"That's not the way we operate, Amethyst," Garnet pointed out.

"But Kinzie-," Peridot began.

"I understand you two are upset. We all are," Garnet replied. "But Kinzie's still with us."

"What are you talking about?!" Amethyst shouted. "You saw her get blown up just like we did! She's gone!"

"No, she isn't," Garnet argued as she held up the onyx. "She's right here."

The remaining Gems, save Jasper, stared at the gem in collective disbelief before Pearl finally spoke up. "B-But how?"

"Not sure," Garnet replied. "The destabilizer that was used on her did destroy her human body but it also caused her soul to attach itself to this onyx."

"So Homeworld created a way to turn humans into Gems?" Steven asked.

"Not exactly," Garnet answered. "I have a feeling this only worked out the way it did because of how important this gem is to Kinzie. She never went anywhere without her bracelet, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that, subconsciously, she felt like the onyx was a part of her."

"That would certainly explain how she was able to attach to it so easily," Pearl agreed. "But how do we know she'll be able to take a physical form?"

"We don't," Garnet stated bluntly. "But Kinzie's always believed in all of us; I think it's time we all believed in her."

* * *

A week had passed since the battle with Citrine and there had been no sign that Kinzie was going to re-emerge. Steven had decided to give the onyx to the Fryman family, reasoning that they should be the first ones Kinzie saw when she regenerated. Everyone was trying to remain optimistic that they would see Kinzie again, but each day without a sign wore their hope a little bit thinner.

The one most obviously affected by the whole incident was Ronaldo. He refused to let the gem out of his sight, holding onto it and even talking to it from time to time. The onyx would gleam and shimmer on occasion when Ronaldo would speak to it and he hoped that meant that Kinzie was able to hear him.

"Look at it all, Kinzie," Ronaldo said as he held the onyx up and gestured to the boardwalk. "This is your home. Don't you miss it at all? Don't you want to come back and see it again?"

"Ronaldo, what are you doing with that?!" Peedee asked. "Why did you bring her here?!"

"Kinzie's been stuck at the house all week," Ronaldo replied. "I thought she'd like a little fresh air. Besides, maybe seeing all the stuff she's been missing will make her regenerate faster. I'm pretty sure she can hear from inside this gem so maybe she's able to see from inside of it, too."

Peedee sighed. "Okay. Just be careful with her."

"Hey, guys!" Steven called as he made his way up to the fry shop. His smile dropped slightly when he saw the onyx in Ronaldo's hand. "Has she made any movement at all?"

Peedee shook his head. "No. She glimmers sometimes when we talk to her but that's about it." He sighed before looking at Steven. "Are we sure she's going to come back?"

Steven nodded vigorously. "I'm positive she can! We just have to believe in her! She didn't attach herself to this gem just so she could stay stuck inside of it."

As if on cue, the rose quartz in Steven's belly button began to glow, Kinzie's onyx glowing as well a short moment later.

"What's going on?" Peedee asked. "Is that normal?"

"Not sure," Steven replied. "But normally, when my gem glows, it means something cool is about to happen."

* * *

Kinzie forced her eyes open as a soft pink light began into penetrate the black abyss she'd been floating in.

"Kinzie? Can you hear me, dear?" a gentle, melodious voice asked.

"Yeah, I can," Kinzie replied. "But what's going on? How were you able to get in here?"

"I'm not inside of your gem, my dear," the voice said. "You and I have been linked together temporarily. It looks like you could use a little help regenerating."

"Sounds good to me," Kinzie agreed. "Before we start, though, I just have one more question. How do you know who I am?"

"I've known you for quite a while, Kinzie," the voice answered. "You and I haven't had the chance to meet in person, but I've been able to see you through Steven's eyes."

"Wait a second," Kinzie said. "Does that mean that you're...that you're Rose Quartz?"

The voice chuckled. "Yes, my dear. And it's nice to finally get to speak to you."

"But Steven told me that you had...passed on when he was born," Kinzie pointed out. "How are you able to...?"

"That's not entirely true," Rose explained. "I did have to give up my physical form in order to have Steven, but I'll always exist inside his gem. The reason I'm able to connect to you this way is largely due to your abilities as an Onyx; all Gems under White Diamond have the ability to sense the presence of their allies. If that ally is someone they've formed a bond with and they're within a certain range, they can communicate with them like this."

"So I'm able to talk to you now because of my friendship with Steven?" Kinzie asked.

"That's right," Rose confirmed. "And the more you practice with it, the farther your range will extend. In order to do that, though, we need to get you out of this limbo and back into a physical body."

"Right. Still a little confused about how all that is supposed to work," Kinzie replied. "I've tried focusing and forcing myself out but it didn't work. I'd hoped if I just waited long enough, a way out would present itself but that hasn't worked out for me either."

"I'm not surprised. You were badly wounded and the strain of losing your body and attaching yourself to this gem took a pretty significant toll on you," Rose said. "However, the fact that I was able to connect to you at all should mean you've recovered enough to be able to regenerate. All you have to do is remember what you were before you became trapped here. Remember all the ones you care about and how happy all of you will be when you come back. They all believe in you, both your family and the Gems. And they need you. If you focus on that, I can assure you that a way out is going to present itself."

Kinzie did as Rose had told her; she kept her thoughts trained on the ones she cared about, all the memories they had shared, and all the things she had experienced because of them. From spending time with Ronaldo and Peedee since childhood, to happy memories with her beloved mother, to baring her soul to Amethyst on that fateful evening, to the successful Tubetube channel they had created, to her relationship with Peridot and her friendships with all of the Gems; every single one of them had brought her to this point.

' _I'm not going to let all of it end here,_ ' Kinzie thought. ' _There's still too much I haven't experienced. I have to get out and get back to all of them._ '

As if in response to her resolve, Kinzie began to feel herself being pulled upward. "Rose, what's going on?"

"It's time, my dear," Rose answered, her voice growing softer as the connection between the Gems began to sever. "You're being reborn as Onyx."

"Wait!" Kinzie called out as she tried to keep herself from emerging too soon; she didn't want the connection to end just yet. "Thank you for everything, Rose. Before I go, is there anything you want me to tell Steven? Or any of the Gems?"

"Please tell Steven that I love him very much and I'm so proud of who he's becoming," Rose requested. "And, if you would, please thank Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst for watching over him the way they have. They have my gratitude."

Kinzie nodded. "I will."

"One last thing, Kinzie," Rose said, her voice fading even further. "Never forget your human heart. Always remember, no matter how many millennia you live, that you were born Kinzie Jay Quinn before you were ever Onyx. You have memories and experiences as a human being that no other full Gem has ever had and that's what makes you extraordinary. Now go and create new experiences."

* * *

Steven, Ronaldo, and Peedee had remained silent as the two gems were glowing. After only a few seconds, Steven's gem began to fade but the onyx began to glow even brighter before rising from Ronaldo's hands and floating in the air. Steven vaguely made out a silhouette before a bright flash filled the area. When it receded, Kinzie stood before them. Steven was relieved to see that she hadn't changed too much; her hair and eyes were still black and her body shape had remained the same, but her skin was an almost chalk white and her hair hadn't retained the colorful streaks Kinzie had been known for. However, the biggest change was her outfit. Instead of her usual jeans and t-shirt, Kinzie now wore a long black and white dress with a slit near her left leg that ended just below her hip. She had also traded in her usual sneakers for a pair of black boots and black fingerless gloves, both with stars adorning them. Upon closer inspection, Steven could see that the onyx she had emerged from was now resting on her solar plexus.

Kinzie gave Steven a small smile. "Your mom says hi."

Steven immediately rushed toward Kinzie and threw his arms around her in a tight hug, Ronaldo and Peedee following soon after.

"I can't believe it! You're really okay!" Steven exclaimed.

"What happened?! How were you able to come out from that gem? And what was with that weird glowy thing you and Steven did?!" Peedee asked.

"So you're actually a Gem now?" Ronaldo asked. "Does this mean you'll get cool powers?! Oh man, why does all the cool stuff happen to you?!"

Kinzie laughed. "Settle down, guys. I promise I'll explain everything but first I need to get something to eat."

After Kinzie got herself some curly fries, she recounted her experience inside the onyx. She told them about the events leading up to her body being destroyed, the disturbing sense of lethargy she felt as she recovered inside the gem, and her conversation with Rose Quartz. She relayed Rose's message to Steven as well.

"You have to come back with me! We need to show the Gems! They're gonna be so happy!" Steven exclaimed.

"I'll come back and see you all later on this evening, okay Steven," Kinzie replied. "Right now, I think I need to spend a little time with my family."

Steven smiled and nodded in understanding. "Okay, take your time. But I'm not going to tell the others just yet. I think you'd make a pretty awesome surprise."

* * *

"So why did you want all of us to come out here, Ste-man?" Amethyst asked.

"It's a surprise and I think you're all really going to like it," Steven replied. He'd received a text from Kinzie shortly before asking all the Gems to come out to the beach that stated that she was on her way.

"So where is this surprise anyway?" Lapis asked. "Everything looks exactly the same."

"Is it something I can eat?" Amethyst asked. "Like a giant pizza or something?"

"Well, I know I'm not as exciting as a pizza but I hope I'll do," said a familiar voice from behind them.

The Gems all turned at the sound of the voice to see Kinzie standing behind them with a smile on her face. None of them made a move for a moment, as if they were trying to be sure she was really there. Amethyst was the first to respond and she lunged toward Kinzie to tackle her into a hug, only for her friend to become engulfed in green light and lifted off the ground, causing the purple Gem to fall face first into the sand. Kinzie felt her smile widen as the green light deposited her into Peridot's arms, the green Gem wrapping her up in a tight hug.

"I missed you, Per-bear," Kinzie said.

"I missed you too," Peridot mumbled into Kinzie's neck. "I didn't get a chance to tell you before but... I love you."

Kinzie's eyes widened slightly before she lifted up Peridot's head and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "I love you, too, Peri. It's so good to be back."

"Not to interrupt your little love fest," Amethyst said as she walked back to the pair, dusting sand off of her outfit. "But I think a best friend hug is needed right about now."

Peridot rolled her eyes as she gently set Kinzie back down. "You're just mad because you didn't get to her first."

"Oh, please," Amethyst retorted. "You totally cheated!"

Jasper approached Kinzie as the two Gems continued their argument. "Onyx."

"Jasper," Kinzie replied.

"Do you remember what I said to you a while back when you and I had that conversation about my loyalty to Homeworld?" Jasper asked.

Kinzie nodded. "I do. You told me that if I was able to bring someone that was more worthy of your loyalty than Homeworld, you would follow them to the end."

"Right," Jasper confirmed. "Well considering Homeworld's already tried to do away with me, it seems I'm a loyal soldier with nothing to be loyal to. You can see where this presents a problem for me."

"I can," Kinzie agreed.

"However, you more or less died saving me," Jasper continued. "I'd say that makes you more than worthy of pledging loyalty to."

Kinzie smiled. "Fine by me. But I want to make one thing clear. I know that you're used to following commands; you told me as much yourself. But I don't want you to see me as a superior or a commander or anything like that. I want you to see me as an equal. No, wait." She paused for a moment before extending her hand toward Jasper. "I want you to see me as a friend."

Jasper rolled her eyes but shook Kinzie's hand anyway. "I think I can manage that."

"Okay, well if we're all finished sharing our feelings, I think it's time we get this party started with some pizza!" Amethyst interjected, followed by shouts of assent from the other Gems.

Steven brought his hand to the rose quartz gem in his belly button as he watched the Gems celebrate.

' _Thanks, Mom,_ ' he thought before running off toward the others.

* * *

 **Ending Notes: I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. As I said before, there's going to be a sequel that delves a little more into Kinzie's new abilities and introduces a few fusions as well as a trip to Homeworld.**

 **I'll still be updating WATMG periodically as well. I've actually got a really cute Kinzidot drabble planned for New Year's Eve since I haven't had much of a chance to write a lot of fluff for them recently. I have some new stories for different anime planned as well, and you can find information about those on my profile. I'm probably going to be starting the Code Geass one next; I'm in the mood to write something creepy and disturbing.**

 **Thank all of you so much for sticking with me! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support you've given me and this story! Please feel free to leave any feedback and constructive criticism you'd like! Thank you all for reading! Geekinthepink, out!**


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